BiH removed from the list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorist financing

(Patria) - As of today, Bosnia and Herzegovina is officially not on the EU list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in its regime for preventing money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism that pose a significant threat to the Union's financial system.

The Commission Delegated Regulation of 7 May 2020, which revised the list of high-risk third countries, has entered into force. The revised list is also largely aligned with the FATF list.
The European Commission has recognized the progress and measures taken in this area by BiH in the past period, and concluded that at this stage, according to available information, Bosnia and Herzegovina has no strategic deficiencies in its regime for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Commission will continue to monitor the effective implementation of such measures. The Ministry of Justice of BiH, through its work in the past few years, has made a significant contribution to strengthening the system for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, particularly through key amendments to the criminal legislation of BiH and amendments to the Law on Associations and Foundations of BiH.

Furthermore, in the period 2016-2018, the Ministry of Justice of BiH participated in a Working Group with 8 sub-groups (whose members were representatives of institutions at the state, entity, and Brčko District levels), which conducted a national risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing under the auspices of the World Bank. It is important to emphasize that, together with the EU, the Ministry of Justice of BiH, through the project "Capacity Building of State Institutions for Public Policy Dialogue with Civil Society" (CBGI project), established an e-register, and all of this ultimately contributed to meeting the conditions for removing BiH from the FATF's grey list of risky countries, and as of today, from the EU list.