Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism at international level

What the EU is doing and why

To effectively combat the global circulation of dirty money, international efforts are needed. The Commission is actively working with international partners for instance through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setter on anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing. The FATF notably identifies jurisdictions having strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. The EU’s listing takes into account the recommendations provided by FATF.

The identification of high-risk counties is required in order to protect the EU financial system and the proper functioning of the internal market. The Commission is empowered to identify high-risk third countries which have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism frameworks. This reduces the risks that could pose threats to the Union’s financial system.

In line with the Directive (EU) 2018/843 (5^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive), gatekeepers, such as banks, are obliged to carefully consider business relationships and transactions involving high-risk third countries through increased checks and control measures defined under Article 18a of the Directive.

Latest version of the list of high-risk third countries

On 10 June 2025, the European Commission adopted a new Delegated Regulation in relation to third countries which have strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes. The Delegated Regulation amends Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675.

The following jurisdictions are identified as having strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes:

A consolidated version of the EU list is available (with only measures that already entered into force).

The listing process

Objectives of the list

The objectives of the list can be subdivided into three main goals:

What are the steps

The listing process follows a staged approach that can be divided into four parts:

Methodology

To ensure a fair and transparent process concerning the identification of third countries, the Commission developed a methodology in 2020. The methodology aims to clarify the measures to identify the high-risk countries based on the faults in their national AML/CTF regimes posing significant threats to the EU’s financial system.

More information on the methodology

Planning of assessment

The Commission carried out a pre-assessment to determine relevant countries to be assessed and the level of priority, in addition to those already listed by the Financial Action Task Force. Countries are considered relevant for the EU financial system in case they meet any of the following non-cumulative criteria

• a country is identified by the European External Action Service or by Europol as having a systemic impact on the integrity of the EU financial system
• a country was reviewed as an international offshore financial centres by the International Monetary Fund
• a country is considered as economically relevant based on the strength of the economic ties with the EU and the magnitude of its financial sector

On this basis, the Commission identified 132 jurisdictions so far that will be further analyzed according to its methodology over the period 2018-2025. The list of 132 countries included in the scope.

With regard to the level of priority

• the Commission reviews as a matter of priority a first group of 54 jurisdiction (Priority 1 countries). The assessment is an ongoing exercise; hence any country will be reassessed when new relevant information sources become available
• the other jurisdictions (Priority 2 countries) will be assessed successively until 2025

Relevant legislation