Directive (EU) 2019/1153 laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences

Summary:

Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 providing for measures to facilitate the use of financial and other information in order to prevent and combat serious crime more effectively.

Further information:

Timely information is essential for criminal investigations on serious crimes. Lack of financial information may result in missed opportunities to investigate serious crimes, disrupt criminal activities, stop terrorist plots, and detect and freeze proceeds of crime. Many investigations come to a dead end because of failure to secure timely, accurate and comprehensive access to the relevant financial data.

The current mechanisms for accessing and exchanging financial information are slow compared to the fast pace at which funds can be transferred across Europe and globally. Too much time is required to obtain financial information, reducing the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions. There is a need to find quicker and more effective ways to access and exchange information on bank accounts, financial information and financial analysis.

This Directive provides for measures to facilitate the use of financial and other information in order to prevent and combat serious crime more effectively, including across borders. More specifically, it increases the competent authorities’ timely access to information contained in the centralised bank account registries or data retrieval systems as established by Directive (EU) 2015/849 (the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive).

The proposal was presented by the European Commission in April 2018 as part of a package of legislative proposals accompanying its Fourteenth progress report towards an effective and genuine Security Union.

• Primary Source

Official

EUR-Lex: COM(2018)213: Proposal for a Directive laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2018:213:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2018)114: Impact assessment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2018:114:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2018)115: Executive summary of the impact assessment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2018:115:FIN

---