[author: Aoife Casey]

The Council of EU published the minutes of a meeting held in its configuration as the General Affairs Council (12279/18) on September 18, 2018.

On page 13 of the minutes, the Council confirms that it will not object to the addition of Pakistan to the list of high-risk third countries set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675, which supplements the Fourth Money Laundering Directive ((EU) 2015/849) (“MLD4“).

The European Parliament will now consider the Delegated Regulation and decide whether to raise an objection. If the Parliament does not object, the Delegated Regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the EU (the “OJ“). It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the OJ and will apply from that date.