| Series Title | European Voice |
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| Series Details | Vol 6, No.37, 12.10.00, p7 |
| Publication Date | 12/10/2000 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 12/10/00 TRAVELLERS carrying large amounts of cash across Union borders should be required to declare the money or face prosecution, according to a high-level EU committee. In a move which will strike many as a step backwards from the relaxation of Union border controls over the last ten years, the group is calling for news laws to make it harder to move cash, cheques, gems, precious metals or other means of payment between member states. The proposals, designed to clamp down on the illegal laundering of the proceeds of crime, were drawn up following a joint EU surveillance operation - code-named Moneypenny - which monitored the amount of cash being carried across borders, legally or illegally, within the Union. Between September 1999 and February 2000, customs officials discovered 20,710 instances of sums greater than €7,600 being taken across borders, with 286 of the finds worth more than €500,000. The total value of the transfers was €1.6 billion, of which €1.35 billion was carried in cash. Most hauls were not hidden and in only 30 cases were sums found in specially designed devices such as false partitions in the boots of cars. The legal situation on cross-border transfers currently varies widely across the EU. Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and Greece have general requirements to declare money movements, with the threshold ranging from €7,622 in France to €12,470 in Portugal. But most EU countries do not oblige travellers to declare money and customs officers have no rights to scrutinise cash movements. The report by the influential 'Article 36 committee', made up of high-level justice and home affairs officials from member states, warns that this is making life easy for criminals, and says the EU should introduce laws to subject all transfers above a certain value to monitoring and record-keeping requirements. Travellers carrying large amounts of cash across Union borders should be required to declare the money or face prosecution, according to a high-level EU committee. |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs |
