Written question asked by Lord Wakeham (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Myners (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2009.

Crime: Money-laundering

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to (a) review the administration of money laundering regulations, and (b) simplify the regulations so far as they affect law-abiding citizens.

Answer: The UK's Money Laundering Regulations 2007 transposed the requirements of the EU's third money-laundering directive into domestic law. To help interpret the requirements of the regulations within the UK's specific context and to avoid prescriptive application, HM Government employ a risk-based approach to implementation. This enables businesses to apply simplified customer checks in many situations, to have discretion over how they verify customers' identities, and to rely upon customer checks already carried out by other regulated businesses. The Treasury and the various money-laundering supervisory bodies, such as the FSA or Institute of Chartered Accountants, routinely advise regulated business on the need to apply the regulations in a risk-based way, which enables resources to be targeted at the greatest threats, and the minimum burden to be placed on law-abiding citizens. In the Treasury's consultation on the regulations, it committed to reviewing their implementation after a period of two years. It is intended that this review will coincide with a review of the underlying third money-laundering directive by the European Commission.

Secondary information