The Monero Policy Working Group (MPWG) is a loose quorum of individuals attempting to engage in regulatory and policy conversations regarding cryptocurrency, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.
The MPWG is currently responding to the proposed revised EC AML/CFT legislative package.
We recently submitted our second response to this suite of legislative changes, this time focused on the EC’s Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.
Our full response may be found on the EU website and on our website.
In summary the key points of our response were:
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We stated clearly that the Impact Assessment conducted prior to the proposed legislative package was deficient, primarily as there were no direct or indirect costs identified for the consumer/citizen.
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Further to the above, we questioned whether the correct legislative process had been followed.
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We supported elements of the recently published European Data Protection Supervisor’s response, especially those that urged the Commission to clearly define what data points would be used for AML/CFT purposes, and what categories (and sub-categories) of data should be pursuant to appropriate due diligence efforts.
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We agreed that appropriate protections should be put into place to ensure that the Financial Investigative Units (FIUs) have ‘investigatory’ powers, and not ‘intelligence-based’ powers - as the latter (as communicated by the EDPS) is akin to persistent surveillance.
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We questioned the opaqueness of Articles that concerned crowd-funding services, as this may affect certain blockchain and DLT-based activities.
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We questioned why remittences were not exempt from the proposed Regulation, especially as failing to do so would disproportionally impact low income individuals, and could be seen as highly discriminatory against those who are vulnerable or economically disadvantaged.
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We supported for Article 55 of the Regulation - as it rightfully urges obliged entities to process data in compliance with existing European data protection regulations.
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We drew attention to Article 59, which sets upper limits on the value of cash transfers in most commercial activities of €10.000 - while also affording Member States the ability to lower that upper bound. We urged that any fixed amount should be indexed to inflation. We also reminded the Commission that efforts to curb cash transactions disproportionately affects vulnerable groups and those on lower incomes. These groups are often the ones that are most dependent on the transactory medium of cash.
If you would like to get involved in the MPWG efforts, you can join our Matrix channel: #monero-policy
The Monero Policy Working Group (MPWG) is responsible for this content. This is not legal advice, and it should not be relied upon for any purpose by third parties. To learn more about the MPWG, click here.