The Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) is currently assisting the Slovak Republic with enhancing the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. It aims to do so for instance by supporting Slovak competent authorities with conducting money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) sectoral risk assessments (SRAs) related to organised crime and cross-border threats.

In this regard, the project has produced two sets of SRA Guidelines containing detailed methodological guidance on the process to be followed, the contents to be included, the tools to be used, and the analytical reasoning to be carried out for obtaining accurate risk assessment results and actionable conclusions.

As a follow-up, the ECCD has organised the workshop on “Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment related to organised crime and cross-border threats”, in collaboration with the Slovak Financial Intelligence Unit. The event took place on 6 and 7 March 2023, in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
The workshop gathered 32 representatives of competent authorities of the Slovak AML/CFT system as well as additional participants from the Financial Intelligence Units of Poland and Ukraine. 
The interventions and discussions of the first day focused on the topic of organised crime-related ML/TF risk assessment, while the second day looked closer at cross-border threats of money laundering and terrorism financing and the ways to best assess and address related risks. Each of the previously produced Guidelines was presented in detail accompanied by expert advice regarding their practical implementation. 

Participants used the opportunity to also exchange their own experience in the assessment of such risks, including identified good practices, but also challenges and concrete solutions on how to overcome them. In addition, the event allowed to compare perspectives on data collection processes and tools, identification of threats and associated vulnerabilities, information sources, consideration of the gravity level of the potential consequences of risk occurrence, as well as risk-weighing methods. 
Finally, representatives of the Slovak, Polish and Ukrainian competent authorities were able to discuss possibilities for enhanced cross-border and broader regional cooperation, to further facilitate the exchange of information and coordination of actions between jurisdictions, to ensure effective identification and mitigation of ML/TF threats and risks across borders. The stakeholders valued these practical discussions on forward-looking solutions, all the more relevant in the current regional context, taking into account the ongoing situation in Ukraine and related money laundering and terrorism financing risks.

This Workshop was held within the framework of the joint TSI Project on “Enhancing the effectiveness of the AML Framework in Slovakia” funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.