The EU has officially removed Mauritius from its List of High-Risk Third Countries through the Commission’s Regulation on 7th January 2022 which amends Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675. The Regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The following are the salient points from the Regulation:-
▪ Since the last amendments to Regulation (EU) 2016/1675, the FATF updated its list of “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” and at its Plenary meeting of October 2021, the FATF removed Mauritius from its list.
▪ The FATF welcomed significant progress made by Mauritius in improving its AML/CFT regime and noted that Mauritius has established the legal and regulatory framework to meet the commitments in its action plans regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified. Mauritius is therefore no longer subject to the FATF’s monitoring process under its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process. Mauritius will continue to work with the FATF Style Regional Bodies to improve further its AML/CFT regime.
▪ The Commission’s analysis concludes that Mauritius no longer has strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime considering the available information. Mauritius has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. These measures are sufficiently comprehensive and meet the necessary requirements to consider that strategic deficiencies identified under article 9 of the Directive (EU) 2015/849 have been removed.
▪ The Commission reviewed progress in addressing strategic deficiencies of countries listed in Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 that have been delisted in June or October 2021 by the FATF or reviewed by the Commission in line with its revised methodology to identify high risk third countries based on the new requirements of Directive (EU) 2015/849, as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/843. The Commission concluded the review of progress made by Mauritius.
▪ The Commission’s analysis concluded that Mauritius do not have strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime anymore considering the available information. Mauritius has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed related technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified, and the additional benchmarks or preliminary concerns set by the Commission.
The complete delisting of Mauritius from any of the FATF, UK and EU lists therefore reinforces Mauritius as a robust, credible and compliant jurisdiction with a strong and effective AML/CFT regime and a commitment to keep high standards. Hence, international parties and investors’ confidence and trust in the reputation of Mauritius as an IFC will no doubt be reinforced.
