Since the last plenary session of the Moneyval Committee of the Council of Europe, held these last few days in Strasbourg from May 20 to 24, the Holy See and Vatican City confirm the virtuous path undertaken years ago in terms of prevention and fight against money laundering of money, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This was certified by the Moneyval experts of the Council of Europe, who adopted the Vatican’s first “Periodic Monitoring Report” during the meeting.

The Report, according to a note from the Vatican Press Office, contains “an evaluation of the progress made by the jurisdiction, three years after the last evaluation attributable to the Mutual Evaluation Report of April 2021”, at that time estimated at a “majority” positively”, which led the Holy See and Vatican City to a subsequent control process in a short time (“regular monitoring”). In particular, it is underlined, that the current legislation of the Holy See and Vatican City State was analyzed for technical compliance with some recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) on which the jurisdiction had requested a review of the qualification granted in the Report of Mutual Evaluation 2021.

For its part, the Moneyval Committee recognized “the new progress” recorded on the subject, and “for all the requested recommendations an improvement rating was assigned.” Therefore, the note continues, “The next evaluation on technical compliance is planned in four years, when, presumably, it will be included in the broader context of the “6th round of mutual evaluation” of the jurisdictions adhering to the MONEYVAL Committee. The result of the Regular Monitoring Report, the statement concludes, was largely positive, demonstrating the joint work of all the authorities of the jurisdiction and in continuity with the process of full financial transparency to which the jurisdiction of the Holy See is committed. “(including Vatican City State)”.