On 19 June 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) the Delegated Regulation that the European Commission adopted on 7 May 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 which supplements the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive by identifying those third countries that have strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML / CFT) regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the EU.

Article 1 of the Delegated Regulation amends Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 by removing the following in the table under the point “I. High-risk third countries which have provided a written high-level political commitment to address the identified deficiencies an have developed an action plan with FATF”: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guyana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.

Article 2 of the Delegated Regulation makes amendments to the Annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675, the table under the point “I. High-risk third countries which have provided a written high-level political commitment to address the identified deficiencies and have developed an action plan with FATF”. The updated list refers to the following: Afghanistan, Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Iraq, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar/Burma, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

The Delegated Regulation comes into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the OJ. However, the new list of jurisdictions in Article 2 does not come into force until 1 October 2020.