About the Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories NCCT Initiative

The principal objective of the Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) Initiative was to reduce the vulnerability of the financial system to money laundering by ensuring that all financial centres adopt and implement measures for the prevention, detection and punishment of money laundering according to internationally recognised standards.

The review and listing process

The February 2000 NCCTs report laid out the basic procedure for reviewing countries and territories as part of this initiative.  The FATF established at that time four regional review groups (Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Africa/Middle East) consisting of representatives from the FATF member governments that served as the main points of contact with the reviewed country or territory.

Countries were selected for review based on FATF members’ experience on a priority basis.  The jurisdictions to be reviewed were informed of the work to be carried out by the FATF.  The review groups gathered relevant laws, regulations and other relevant information, analysed this information against the 25 NCCT criteria, and drafted a report that was sent to the jurisdictions for comment.  Each reviewed jurisdiction provided their comments on their respective draft reports.  These comments and the draft reports themselves were discussed between the FATF and the jurisdictions concerned during a series of face-to-face meetings. Subsequently, the draft reports were discussed and adopted by the FATF Plenaries.

A total of 47 countries or territories were examined in two rounds of reviews (in 2000 and 2001).  A total of 23 were listed as NCCTs—15 in 2000 and 8 in 2001.  The FATF has not reviewed any new jurisdictions since 2001 in the framework of the NCCT initiative. As of October 2006, there are no Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories in the context of the NCCT initiative.

Annual NCCTs reports

The annual NCCT reports below will give an overview of the NCCT process from the start of the initiative in February 2000 until the de-listing of the last country in October 2006.  These reports include details of the deficiencies identified regarding the countries and territories identified as non-cooperative and the actions these countries and territories have taken to remedy them, including an indication of the timelines in which the change took place and the specific progress that was made.

Initial Report on NCCTs (02/2000)

First NCCTs review (06/2000)

Second NCCTs review (06/2001)

Third NCCTs review (06/2002)

Fourth NCCTs review (06/2003)

Fifth NCCTs review (07/2004)

Sixth NCCTs review (06/2005)

Seventh NCCTs review (06/2006)

Eighth NCCTs review (10/2007)