On 17 March 2023, the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD), in cooperation with the Department of Financial Information under the Polish Ministry of Finance, organised a Workshop to discuss the data sources used for informing the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) National Risk Assessment (NRA) process of Poland. The event took place in Warsaw, Poland, and gathered representatives of all beneficiary institutions involved in the NRA process, such as the Polish Financial Intelligence Unit, Financial Supervisory Authority, National Bank of Poland, National Revenue Administration, Ministry of Justice, Border Guard, Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police, Central Anticorruption Bureau, Internal Security Agency and Military Counterintelligence Service.

The workshop provided an opportunity to present and discuss the key findings and recommendations for further enhancing the data sources informing the ML/TF NRA process of Poland. The discussion focused for instance on potential improvements to the scope of statistical data used for the analysis of the cross-border ML/TF threat and organised crime. The Council of Europe expert has further presented to Polish authorities the data gathering tools that have been developed for the purpose of facilitating the data collection process for the NRA purposes. 

As a follow-up, a summary of the provided recommendations, including the developed data gathering tools will be included in a Technical Paper which will be shared with Polish authorities. Moreover, upon the finalisation of the updated ML/TF NRA Methodology of Poland, the project will continue supporting the authorities by training all relevant stakeholders on the features and practical application of the new Methodology. 

The event was organised within the framework of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) initiative on “Strengthening the risk assessment mechanisms and the AML-CFT strategic analysis function of the Polish financial intelligence unit”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe.