In 16 November 2023, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published amendments to the FATF Recommendations which will provide law enforcement, financial intelligence units, prosecutors, other asset recovery practitioners and competent authorities with a more robust toolkit to target and confiscate criminal assets. The amendments include requirements for confiscation and provisional freeze and seize measures in the domestic context (R.4 and its Interpretive Note) and measures to improve international cooperation on asset recovery (R.38 and its Interpretive Note). The amendments will bolster the powers and ability of law enforcement and other authorities to identify and trace criminal property. They also set out new forms of international cooperation which emphasise the importance of swift and efficient channels and mechanisms (R.30, 31 and 40 and related Interpretive Notes). As stated by the FATF president, T. Raja Kumar ‘Countries would need to promptly implement these robust Standards, and even go beyond them as needed, to ensure that crime does not pay, that victims are compensated, and that dangerous criminals and terrorists are deprived of the means to inflict harm around the world.’
The document can be accessed here.