ISLAMABAD: The European Commission has removed Pakistan from the list of its “High Risk Third Countries” that pose significant threats to the financial system of the European Union, according to Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar.

The EC had in Feb 2019 issued a list of 23 countries including Pakistan having weak anti-money laundering and terror financing regimes and asked them to remedy their deficiencies swiftly.

“EU has removed Pakistan from the List of High Risk Third Countries,” the minister said announced via a tweet.

Qamar noted that Pakistani businesses and individuals would no longer be subjected to ‘Enhanced Customer Due Diligence’ by European legal and economic operators.

The countries that are currently on the EC list of High Risk Third Countries.

The EU High Risk Third Countries list is a list of countries that the union considers to have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing frameworks.

According to the EU website, the placement of countries on the list is meant to identify jurisdictions which have strategic deficiencies in their national AML/CFT regimes which pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union and hence the proper functioning of the internal market.

When a country is added to the list, it means that the EU believes that there are significant weaknesses in that country’s legal and regulatory systems for preventing financial crime and terrorist financing.

Once a country is added to the EU high-risk third countries list, certain additional measures are applied to financial transactions involving that country. These measures are designed to mitigate the risks posed by the deficiencies in the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing frameworks.

The specific measures that are applied may include increased customer due diligence requirements, enhanced monitoring of transactions, and restrictions or prohibitions on certain types of financial transactions.