Compliance essential: Commissioner for Narcotics Rosanna Ure says Hong Kong will need to amend the law to comply with new international standards on money laundering.

Hong Kong needs to amend the law to comply with new international standards on combating money laundering as promulgated by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, Commissioner for Narcotics Rosanna Ure says.

She said today the task force adopted and issued the latest version of Forty Recommendations & the Special Recommendation IX (SR IX) in June 2003 and last October, aiming to cut off the financial lifeline of terrorists and other criminals.

The new set of recommendations stipulates that basic obligations such as customer due diligence, record keeping and suspicious transaction reporting (STR) should be set out in law or regulations.

The task force also extended the remit of the recommendations to cover six categories of designated non-financial businesses and professions. They include real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, trust and company service providers, lawyers, accountants and casinos.

SR IX calls on countries to stop cross-border movement of currency and monetary instruments related to money laundering and terrorist financing. It also asks countries to confiscate funds intercepted.

"We already have complied with the STR requirements in our current legislation. What needs to be done now is to write the obligations relating to customer due diligence and record keeping as well as that concerning the implementation of SR IX into the relevant law."

Compliance essential

This is a new standard adopted by the task force and the International Monetary Fund-World Bank.

"If Hong Kong does not implement the recommendation, we will run the risk of being assessed as not compliant by the task force under its mutual evaluation exercise or by the IMF-World Bank under their Financial System Assessment Program. Such an assessment would have adverse consequences to our status as an international financial centre," Mrs Ure said.

The Government is now seeking legal advice and consulting related trades on the legislative amendments required. The proposal will be presented to the Legislative Council Panel on Security this legislative year.

To educate the public on money laundering, five episodes of a one-minute programme are being broadcast on TVB Jade this week at 11.35pm daily.

Upcoming conferences

Two international conferences will be held in Hong Kong to unite global efforts to tackle the problems of money laundering and drug abuse.

A number of renowned speakers and experts have been invited from the overseas, Mainland and local business sector and related fields.

The International Conference - Creating Global Partnership & Synergy in the Fight Against Money Laundering will be held on February 16 and 17 at the Convention & Exhibition Centre.

To be held from February 23 to 25 at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, the International Conference on Tackling Drug Abuse will be a two-and-a-half day conference-cum-visit.