Follow-up Report to the Mutual Evaluation Report of Spain

The FATF has released the Follow-Up Report to the Mutual Evaluation Report of Spain, which was adopted in June 2006.  In October 2010, the FATF recognised that Spain had made significant progress in addressing deficiencies identified in that report and decided that the country should be removed from the regular follow-up process.  The FATF agreed that Spain should now report on any further improvements to its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system on a biennial basis.

In its 2006 mutual evaluation, Spain was rated partially compliant (PC) for the following Recommendations.  As a result, it was placed in the regular follow-up process ⁽¹⁾. 

• Recommendation 5 (customer due diligence)
• Recommendation 23 (Regulation, supervision & monitoring)
• Special Recommendation I (Implementation of UN instruments)

The Follow-Up Report agreed by the FATF in October 2010 and published here finds that the Spain has taken sufficient action in remedying the identified deficiencies for the above mentioned Recommendations, and that all the Core and Key Recommendations are at a level essentially equivalent to compliant (C) or largely compliant (LC).

The decision by the FATF to remove a country from the regular follow-up process is based on updated procedures agreed in October 2008.  These procedures require a country to have taken sufficient and effective action to address the compliance levels of Recommendations 1, 3-5, 10, 13, 23, 26, 35-36, and 40 and Special Recommendations I – V (key and core Recommendations), where those Recommendations were previously rated as partially compliant or non-compliant. “Sufficient and effective action” is defined as a level essentially equivalent to compliant (C) or largely compliant (LC).

(1) See paragraphs 39c and 40 of  Third Round of AML/CFT Evaluations Process and Procedures for a detailed explanation.