US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE2759

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 002759 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR INL/C/CP, EB/ESC/TFC, EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI, EUR/UBI 
 
TREASURY FOR ZARATE, FINCEN 
 
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: EFIN, PTER, NL, EUN 
SUBJECT: DUTCH PUSHING FOR PROGRESS ON NEW EU ANTI-MONEY 
LAUNDERING  DIRECTIVE BUT SEE DELAYS 
 
 
(SBU) The Ministry of Finance reports (after a recent 
meeting of the EU contact group on anti-money laundering) 
that most EU members clearly want a new directive that 
includes some of the issues that have been dealt with in the 
new FATF-recommendations, but not in the previous two AML 
directives, e.g., the identification of the beneficial owner 
and transparency of legal entities and trusts.  However, the 
Dutch are concerned that the Commission may not table a 
concrete proposal until late Spring, thus, making it 
unlikely that the legislation can be considered until the 
new European Parliament is in place in July.  The 
Netherlands is doing its utmost to make the process go as 
quickly as possible, so that results can be achieved during 
the (7/04-12/04) Dutch EU Presidency. They are pressing to 
Commission to complete its drafting more quickly and hope 
that another EU contact group meeting will be convened in 
December 2003. 
 
Sobel