2017/2013(INI) | [ParlTrack]

2017/2013(INI) Inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion

Progress: Procedure completed

Role	Committee	Rapporteur	Shadows
	PANA	KOFOD Jeppe ( ), JEŽEK Petr ( )	NIEDERMAYER Luděk ( ), DZHAMBAZKI Angel ( ), URBÁN CRESPO Miguel ( ), SCOTT CATO Molly ( ), VALLI Marco ( ), KAPPEL Barbara ( )

Lead committee dossier:

PANA/8/08635

Legal Basis:

RoP 208

Subjects

Events

2017/12/12

EP - Debate in Parliament

Documents

Debate in Parliament

2017/12/12

EP - End of procedure in Parliament

2017/11/16

EP - Committee report tabled for plenary

Details

The Committee of Inquiry into the allegations contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion adopted by Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) and Petr JEŽEK (ALDE, CZ) on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion.

As a reminder, on 8 June 2016 Parliament set up a Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA).

This Committee was set up after the publication of the so-called ‘ Panama Papers ’ which constitute the biggest leak of information on money laundering and tax avoidance and evasion to have happened to date.

Members welcomed the fact that the Council is aiming to establish by the end of 2017 a ‘common EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions’ . They noted, however, that the screening process, as conducted and overseen by the Subgroup on Third Countries of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) , is not fully transparent and does not allow the Parliament to exercise its scrutiny powers.

The report regretted that a large number of stakeholders have refused to meet with PANA delegations, or refused to appear before the PANA Committee, or did not answer questions in a satisfactory manner.

Members also condemned the assassination of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who had reported extensively on the Panama Papers and on 16 October 2017 was assassinated in a car bombing.

The main conclusions of the commission of inquiry are:

more political will, better regulation and stronger enforcement and monitoring of existing rules is needed to counter the practices of minimising or not paying taxes, laundering money, both offshore and onshore; through shell corporations, tax havens and complex financial structures, some multinationals and wealthy individuals have succeeded in concealing their capital from the tax authorities and have thus benefited from a legal vacuum allowing them to withdraw their wealth and escape tax; the absence of a common definition as to what constitutes an offshore financial centre (OFC) , a tax haven, a secrecy haven, a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction or a high-risk country in terms of money laundering; the absence of single definitions constitutes one of the main factors preventing the adoption of adequate and effective legislation to counteract tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering; the lack of cooperation and coordination between and among the EU institutions and agencies, Member States and competent authorities on different pieces of legislation with regard to tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering is a systemic problem; some Member States tend not to provide relevant information in the desired quantity and quality and in general do not seem to exert genuine efforts to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion; exchange of information, adequate enforcement and continuously improving combating techniques are key in fighting tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering; public country-by-country reporting of tax information by all large companies is warranted; that proper identification of UBOs remains a key obstacle to eliminating illegal tax avoidance schemes; Members concluded that there has been a significant gradual improvement in terms of having a register of UBOs with accessibility based on legitimate interest; the creativity of tax avoiders is faster than the formulation of legislation, and that intermediaries and enablers tend to stay on the right side of the law through creative compliance; binding international rules and standards should be established in order to better regulate and define wealth management profession ; a common EU approach to combat shell and letterbox companies in third countries and OCTs and ORs is needed, and to put an end once and for all to practices designed to avoid paying the fair amount of taxes in the EU, on the basis of transparency on the part of the ultimate beneficiaries; the Commission is not sufficiently equipped in terms of resources to ensure full enforcement of the EU legislation against money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance; tax policy issues at Council level are often blocked by individual Member States , in order to protect tax havens; Members called for the abolition of the principle of unanimity of the Member States in tax matters; Member State institutions in charge of implementing and enforcing rules as regards tax fraud and money laundering need to be entirely independent from political influence; sanctions are not always applied or sufficiently deterrent in relevant cases; Members deplored the fact, in this context, that Member States continue to oppose the imposition by the EU of sanctions on third countries whose tax systems are regarded as damaging to the Union.

Members concluded that on the basis of the PANA Committee’s findings, several cases of maladministration with respect to EU legislation can be identified, namely regarding:

the absence of spontaneous communication of tax information from the competent authority of one Member State to another Member State if it has reason to suppose that there may be a loss of tax revenue in the other Member State; the failure of the Member State authorities to act upon the evidence of a serious and persistent failure to identify the beneficial owners for the application of the customer due diligence requirements of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the failure of the Commission to ensure the effective application of this Directive; the Commission's failure to provide a list of third countries with strategic weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regimes; failure of Member States’ authorities to apply administrative penalties and other administrative measures to institutions found liable regarding serious infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive; the lack of sincere cooperation by the Member States in the framework of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) group.

Given that a number of questions remain unanswered regarding the goal of fully ascertaining the scale of this issue, Members suggested the continuation of the inquiry tasks within a permanent committee or high-level working group within the European Parliament.

Documents

A8-0357/2017

2017/10/18

EP - Vote in committee

2017/06/28

EP - Committee draft report

Documents

PE604.514

2017/02/16

EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament

2016/09/29

EP -

Documents

Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
Committee report tabled for plenary: A8-0357/2017
Committee draft report: PE604.514
Committee draft report: PE604.514

Activities

Pavel TELIČKA
Plenary Speeches (8)
David COBURN
Plenary Speeches (3)
Ana GOMES
Plenary Speeches (2)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) PT
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) PT
Petr JEŽEK
Plenary Speeches (2)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate)
Jeppe KOFOD
Plenary Speeches (2)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate)
Bernd LUCKE
Plenary Speeches (2)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
Peter SIMON
Plenary Speeches (2)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
Hugues BAYET
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) FR
Pervenche BERÈS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) FR
Mario BORGHEZIO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) IT
Enrique CALVET CHAMBON
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) ES
Nicola CAPUTO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) IT
Sergio Gaetano COFFERATI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) IT
Georgios EPITIDEIOS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) EL
Beata GOSIEWSKA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) PL
Luis de GRANDES PASCUAL
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) ES
Takis HADJIGEORGIOU
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) EL
Ramón JÁUREGUI ATONDO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) ES
Benedek JÁVOR
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) HU
Barbara KAPPEL
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
Werner LANGEN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
Patrick LE HYARIC
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) FR
Thomas MANN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) DE
Notis MARIAS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) EL
Dariusz ROSATI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) PL
Elly SCHLEIN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) IT
Csaba SÓGOR
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) HU
Theodor Dumitru STOLOJAN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) RO
Marco VALLI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) IT
Sotirios ZARIANOPOULOS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2016/11/22 Report on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (debate) EL

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

2023-08-03Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

docs/0/docs/0/url

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PANA-PR-604514_EN.html

2021-12-18Show (8) Changes | Timetravel

docs/0/docs/0/url	http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE604.514
events/0/type	Old Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading New Committee referral announced in Parliament
events/1/type	Old Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading New Vote in committee
events/2	date 2017-11-16T00:00:00 type Committee report tabled for plenary body EP docs url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0357_EN.html title: A8-0357/2017 summary The Committee of Inquiry into the allegations contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion adopted by Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) and Petr JEŽEK (ALDE, CZ) on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion. As a reminder, on 8 June 2016 Parliament set up a Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA). This Committee was set up after the publication of the so-called ‘ Panama Papers ’ which constitute the biggest leak of information on money laundering and tax avoidance and evasion to have happened to date. Members welcomed the fact that the Council is aiming to establish by the end of 2017 a ‘common EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions’ . They noted, however, that the screening process, as conducted and overseen by the Subgroup on Third Countries of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) , is not fully transparent and does not allow the Parliament to exercise its scrutiny powers. The report regretted that a large number of stakeholders have refused to meet with PANA delegations, or refused to appear before the PANA Committee, or did not answer questions in a satisfactory manner. Members also condemned the assassination of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who had reported extensively on the Panama Papers and on 16 October 2017 was assassinated in a car bombing. The main conclusions of the commission of inquiry are: more political will, better regulation and stronger enforcement and monitoring of existing rules is needed to counter the practices of minimising or not paying taxes, laundering money, both offshore and onshore; through shell corporations, tax havens and complex financial structures, some multinationals and wealthy individuals have succeeded in concealing their capital from the tax authorities and have thus benefited from a legal vacuum allowing them to withdraw their wealth and escape tax; the absence of a common definition as to what constitutes an offshore financial centre (OFC) , a tax haven, a secrecy haven, a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction or a high-risk country in terms of money laundering; the absence of single definitions constitutes one of the main factors preventing the adoption of adequate and effective legislation to counteract tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering; the lack of cooperation and coordination between and among the EU institutions and agencies, Member States and competent authorities on different pieces of legislation with regard to tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering is a systemic problem; some Member States tend not to provide relevant information in the desired quantity and quality and in general do not seem to exert genuine efforts to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion; exchange of information, adequate enforcement and continuously improving combating techniques are key in fighting tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering; public country-by-country reporting of tax information by all large companies is warranted; that proper identification of UBOs remains a key obstacle to eliminating illegal tax avoidance schemes; Members concluded that there has been a significant gradual improvement in terms of having a register of UBOs with accessibility based on legitimate interest; the creativity of tax avoiders is faster than the formulation of legislation, and that intermediaries and enablers tend to stay on the right side of the law through creative compliance; binding international rules and standards should be established in order to better regulate and define wealth management profession ; a common EU approach to combat shell and letterbox companies in third countries and OCTs and ORs is needed, and to put an end once and for all to practices designed to avoid paying the fair amount of taxes in the EU, on the basis of transparency on the part of the ultimate beneficiaries; the Commission is not sufficiently equipped in terms of resources to ensure full enforcement of the EU legislation against money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance; tax policy issues at Council level are often blocked by individual Member States , in order to protect tax havens; Members called for the abolition of the principle of unanimity of the Member States in tax matters; Member State institutions in charge of implementing and enforcing rules as regards tax fraud and money laundering need to be entirely independent from political influence; sanctions are not always applied or sufficiently deterrent in relevant cases; Members deplored the fact, in this context, that Member States continue to oppose the imposition by the EU of sanctions on third countries whose tax systems are regarded as damaging to the Union. Members concluded that on the basis of the PANA Committee’s findings, several cases of maladministration with respect to EU legislation can be identified, namely regarding: the absence of spontaneous communication of tax information from the competent authority of one Member State to another Member State if it has reason to suppose that there may be a loss of tax revenue in the other Member State; the failure of the Member State authorities to act upon the evidence of a serious and persistent failure to identify the beneficial owners for the application of the customer due diligence requirements of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the failure of the Commission to ensure the effective application of this Directive; the Commission's failure to provide a list of third countries with strategic weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regimes; failure of Member States’ authorities to apply administrative penalties and other administrative measures to institutions found liable regarding serious infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive; the lack of sincere cooperation by the Member States in the framework of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) group. Given that a number of questions remain unanswered regarding the goal of fully ascertaining the scale of this issue, Members suggested the continuation of the inquiry tasks within a permanent committee or high-level working group within the European Parliament.
events/2	date 2017-11-16T00:00:00 type Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body EP docs url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0357_EN.html title: A8-0357/2017 summary The Committee of Inquiry into the allegations contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion adopted by Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) and Petr JEŽEK (ALDE, CZ) on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion. As a reminder, on 8 June 2016 Parliament set up a Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA). This Committee was set up after the publication of the so-called ‘ Panama Papers ’ which constitute the biggest leak of information on money laundering and tax avoidance and evasion to have happened to date. Members welcomed the fact that the Council is aiming to establish by the end of 2017 a ‘common EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions’ . They noted, however, that the screening process, as conducted and overseen by the Subgroup on Third Countries of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) , is not fully transparent and does not allow the Parliament to exercise its scrutiny powers. The report regretted that a large number of stakeholders have refused to meet with PANA delegations, or refused to appear before the PANA Committee, or did not answer questions in a satisfactory manner. Members also condemned the assassination of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who had reported extensively on the Panama Papers and on 16 October 2017 was assassinated in a car bombing. The main conclusions of the commission of inquiry are: more political will, better regulation and stronger enforcement and monitoring of existing rules is needed to counter the practices of minimising or not paying taxes, laundering money, both offshore and onshore; through shell corporations, tax havens and complex financial structures, some multinationals and wealthy individuals have succeeded in concealing their capital from the tax authorities and have thus benefited from a legal vacuum allowing them to withdraw their wealth and escape tax; the absence of a common definition as to what constitutes an offshore financial centre (OFC) , a tax haven, a secrecy haven, a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction or a high-risk country in terms of money laundering; the absence of single definitions constitutes one of the main factors preventing the adoption of adequate and effective legislation to counteract tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering; the lack of cooperation and coordination between and among the EU institutions and agencies, Member States and competent authorities on different pieces of legislation with regard to tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering is a systemic problem; some Member States tend not to provide relevant information in the desired quantity and quality and in general do not seem to exert genuine efforts to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion; exchange of information, adequate enforcement and continuously improving combating techniques are key in fighting tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering; public country-by-country reporting of tax information by all large companies is warranted; that proper identification of UBOs remains a key obstacle to eliminating illegal tax avoidance schemes; Members concluded that there has been a significant gradual improvement in terms of having a register of UBOs with accessibility based on legitimate interest; the creativity of tax avoiders is faster than the formulation of legislation, and that intermediaries and enablers tend to stay on the right side of the law through creative compliance; binding international rules and standards should be established in order to better regulate and define wealth management profession ; a common EU approach to combat shell and letterbox companies in third countries and OCTs and ORs is needed, and to put an end once and for all to practices designed to avoid paying the fair amount of taxes in the EU, on the basis of transparency on the part of the ultimate beneficiaries; the Commission is not sufficiently equipped in terms of resources to ensure full enforcement of the EU legislation against money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance; tax policy issues at Council level are often blocked by individual Member States , in order to protect tax havens; Members called for the abolition of the principle of unanimity of the Member States in tax matters; Member State institutions in charge of implementing and enforcing rules as regards tax fraud and money laundering need to be entirely independent from political influence; sanctions are not always applied or sufficiently deterrent in relevant cases; Members deplored the fact, in this context, that Member States continue to oppose the imposition by the EU of sanctions on third countries whose tax systems are regarded as damaging to the Union. Members concluded that on the basis of the PANA Committee’s findings, several cases of maladministration with respect to EU legislation can be identified, namely regarding: the absence of spontaneous communication of tax information from the competent authority of one Member State to another Member State if it has reason to suppose that there may be a loss of tax revenue in the other Member State; the failure of the Member State authorities to act upon the evidence of a serious and persistent failure to identify the beneficial owners for the application of the customer due diligence requirements of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the failure of the Commission to ensure the effective application of this Directive; the Commission's failure to provide a list of third countries with strategic weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regimes; failure of Member States’ authorities to apply administrative penalties and other administrative measures to institutions found liable regarding serious infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive; the lack of sincere cooperation by the Member States in the framework of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) group. Given that a number of questions remain unanswered regarding the goal of fully ascertaining the scale of this issue, Members suggested the continuation of the inquiry tasks within a permanent committee or high-level working group within the European Parliament.
events/3/docs/0/url	Old http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20171212&type=CRE New https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-8-2017-12-12-TOC_EN.html
procedure/Modified legal basis	Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/Other legal basis	Rules of Procedure EP 159

2020-01-19Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

events/2/docs/0/url

Old

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0357&language=EN

New

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0357_EN.html

2019-07-06Show (13) Changes | Timetravel

activities	date: 2017-02-16T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: NIEDERMAYER Luděk group: ECR name: DZHAMBAZKI Angel group: GUE/NGL name: URBÁN CRESPO Miguel group: Verts/ALE name: SCOTT CATO Molly group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: PANA date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 committee_full: PANA Committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion rapporteur: group: S&D name: KOFOD Jeppe group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr date: 2017-10-18T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: NIEDERMAYER Luděk group: ECR name: DZHAMBAZKI Angel group: GUE/NGL name: URBÁN CRESPO Miguel group: Verts/ALE name: SCOTT CATO Molly group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: PANA date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 committee_full: PANA Committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion rapporteur: group: S&D name: KOFOD Jeppe group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr date: 2017-11-16T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0357&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0357/2017 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading date: 2017-12-12T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20171212&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
commission	body: EC dg: Taxation and Customs Union commissioner: MOSCOVICI Pierre
docs	date: 2017-06-28T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE604.514 title: PE604.514 type: Committee draft report body: EP
events	date: 2017-02-16T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2017-10-18T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP date: 2017-11-16T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0357&language=EN title: A8-0357/2017 summary: The Committee of Inquiry into the allegations contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion adopted by Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) and Petr JEŽEK (ALDE, CZ) on the inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion. As a reminder, on 8 June 2016 Parliament set up a Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA). This Committee was set up after the publication of the so-called ‘ Panama Papers ’ which constitute the biggest leak of information on money laundering and tax avoidance and evasion to have happened to date. Members welcomed the fact that the Council is aiming to establish by the end of 2017 a ‘common EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions’ . They noted, however, that the screening process, as conducted and overseen by the Subgroup on Third Countries of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) , is not fully transparent and does not allow the Parliament to exercise its scrutiny powers. The report regretted that a large number of stakeholders have refused to meet with PANA delegations, or refused to appear before the PANA Committee, or did not answer questions in a satisfactory manner. Members also condemned the assassination of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who had reported extensively on the Panama Papers and on 16 October 2017 was assassinated in a car bombing. The main conclusions of the commission of inquiry are: more political will, better regulation and stronger enforcement and monitoring of existing rules is needed to counter the practices of minimising or not paying taxes, laundering money, both offshore and onshore; through shell corporations, tax havens and complex financial structures, some multinationals and wealthy individuals have succeeded in concealing their capital from the tax authorities and have thus benefited from a legal vacuum allowing them to withdraw their wealth and escape tax; the absence of a common definition as to what constitutes an offshore financial centre (OFC) , a tax haven, a secrecy haven, a non-cooperative tax jurisdiction or a high-risk country in terms of money laundering; the absence of single definitions constitutes one of the main factors preventing the adoption of adequate and effective legislation to counteract tax avoidance, tax evasion and money laundering; the lack of cooperation and coordination between and among the EU institutions and agencies, Member States and competent authorities on different pieces of legislation with regard to tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering is a systemic problem; some Member States tend not to provide relevant information in the desired quantity and quality and in general do not seem to exert genuine efforts to crack down on tax avoidance and tax evasion; exchange of information, adequate enforcement and continuously improving combating techniques are key in fighting tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering; public country-by-country reporting of tax information by all large companies is warranted; that proper identification of UBOs remains a key obstacle to eliminating illegal tax avoidance schemes; Members concluded that there has been a significant gradual improvement in terms of having a register of UBOs with accessibility based on legitimate interest; the creativity of tax avoiders is faster than the formulation of legislation, and that intermediaries and enablers tend to stay on the right side of the law through creative compliance; binding international rules and standards should be established in order to better regulate and define wealth management profession ; a common EU approach to combat shell and letterbox companies in third countries and OCTs and ORs is needed, and to put an end once and for all to practices designed to avoid paying the fair amount of taxes in the EU, on the basis of transparency on the part of the ultimate beneficiaries; the Commission is not sufficiently equipped in terms of resources to ensure full enforcement of the EU legislation against money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance; tax policy issues at Council level are often blocked by individual Member States , in order to protect tax havens; Members called for the abolition of the principle of unanimity of the Member States in tax matters; Member State institutions in charge of implementing and enforcing rules as regards tax fraud and money laundering need to be entirely independent from political influence; sanctions are not always applied or sufficiently deterrent in relevant cases; Members deplored the fact, in this context, that Member States continue to oppose the imposition by the EU of sanctions on third countries whose tax systems are regarded as damaging to the Union. Members concluded that on the basis of the PANA Committee’s findings, several cases of maladministration with respect to EU legislation can be identified, namely regarding: the absence of spontaneous communication of tax information from the competent authority of one Member State to another Member State if it has reason to suppose that there may be a loss of tax revenue in the other Member State; the failure of the Member State authorities to act upon the evidence of a serious and persistent failure to identify the beneficial owners for the application of the customer due diligence requirements of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the failure of the Commission to ensure the effective application of this Directive; the Commission's failure to provide a list of third countries with strategic weaknesses in their anti-money laundering regimes; failure of Member States’ authorities to apply administrative penalties and other administrative measures to institutions found liable regarding serious infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive; the lack of sincere cooperation by the Member States in the framework of the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) group. Given that a number of questions remain unanswered regarding the goal of fully ascertaining the scale of this issue, Members suggested the continuation of the inquiry tasks within a permanent committee or high-level working group within the European Parliament. date: 2017-12-12T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20171212&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament date: 2017-12-12T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
other	body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/taxation-and-customs-union_en title: Taxation and Customs Union commissioner: MOSCOVICI Pierre
procedure/Modified legal basis	Old Rules of Procedure EP 150 New Rules of Procedure EP 159
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee	Old PANA/8/08635 New PANA/8/08635
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure EP 208
procedure/legal_basis/0	Rules of Procedure EP 019
procedure/subject	Old 3.45.04 Company taxation 7.30.30.08 Capital outflow, money laundering New 3.45.04 Company taxation 7.30.30.08 Capital outflow, money laundering
procedure/subtype	Old Special committee/Committee of inquiry New Special committee/Committee of inquiry See also Directive 2005/60/EC 2004/0137(COD) See also Directive 2011/16/EU 2009/0004(CNS) See also Directive 2013/36/EU 2011/0203(COD) See also Directive 2014/91/EU 2012/0168(COD) See also Directive 2015/849 2013/0025(COD) See also Directive 2014/107/EU 2013/0188(CNS) See also 2016/3044(RSP)
procedure/summary	See also See also Directive 2005/60/EC See also Directive 2011/16/EU See also Directive 2013/36/EU See also Directive 2014/107/EU See also Directive 2014/91/EU See also Directive 2015/849

2018-09-12Show (8) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2/docs	url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2017-0357&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A8-0357/2017
activities/3/docs	url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20171212&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament
activities/3/type	Old Debate in plenary scheduled New Debate in Parliament
procedure/Modified legal basis	Old Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150 New Rules of Procedure EP 150
procedure/legal_basis/0	Old Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 019 New Rules of Procedure EP 019
procedure/stage_reached	Old Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage New Procedure completed
procedure/subject/2	8.50.01 Implementation of EU law
procedure/summary/0	See also

2017-11-17Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2	date 2017-11-16T00:00:00 body EP type Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
procedure/stage_reached	Old Awaiting committee decision New Awaiting Parliament 1st reading / single reading / budget 1st stage

2017-11-16Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2/type

Old

Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading

New

Debate in plenary scheduled

2017-10-27Show (3) Changes | Timetravel

activities/1/committees	body: EP shadows: group: EPP name: NIEDERMAYER Luděk group: ECR name: DZHAMBAZKI Angel group: GUE/NGL name: URBÁN CRESPO Miguel group: Verts/ALE name: SCOTT CATO Molly group: EFD name: VALLI Marco group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara responsible: True committee: PANA date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 committee_full: PANA Committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion rapporteur: group: S&D name: KOFOD Jeppe group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr
activities/1/type	Old Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading New Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
procedure/Modified legal basis	Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150

2017-09-22Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2/date

Old

2017-11-14T00:00:00

New

2017-12-12T00:00:00

2017-09-07Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

other/0

body: EC

dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/taxation-and-customs-union_en title: Taxation and Customs Union

commissioner: MOSCOVICI Pierre

2017-06-30Show (2) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/committees/0/shadows/4	group EFD name VALLI Marco
committees/0/shadows/4	group EFD name VALLI Marco

2017-04-02Show (4) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/committees/0/date	Old 2016-09-29T00:00:00 New 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00
activities/0/committees/0/rapporteur/0	group S&D name KOFOD Jeppe
committees/0/date	Old 2016-09-29T00:00:00 New 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00
committees/0/rapporteur/0	group S&D name KOFOD Jeppe

2017-03-31Show (4) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/committees/0/date	Old 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 New 2016-09-29T00:00:00
activities/0/committees/0/rapporteur/0	group S&D name KOFOD Jeppe
committees/0/date	Old 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 New 2016-09-29T00:00:00
committees/0/rapporteur/0	group S&D name KOFOD Jeppe

2017-03-12Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

activities/2

date: 2017-11-14T00:00:00

body: EP

type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading

2017-03-10Show (3) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0/committees/0/shadows	group: EPP name: NIEDERMAYER Luděk group: ECR name: DZHAMBAZKI Angel group: GUE/NGL name: URBÁN CRESPO Miguel group: Verts/ALE name: SCOTT CATO Molly group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara
activities/1	date 2017-10-18T00:00:00 body EP type Vote scheduled in committee, 1st reading/single reading
committees/0/shadows	group: EPP name: NIEDERMAYER Luděk group: ECR name: DZHAMBAZKI Angel group: GUE/NGL name: URBÁN CRESPO Miguel group: Verts/ALE name: SCOTT CATO Molly group: ENF name: KAPPEL Barbara

2017-03-08Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

procedure/legal_basis/0

Old

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052

New

Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 019

2017-02-23Show (3) Changes | Timetravel

activities/0	date 2017-02-16T00:00:00 body EP type Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees body: EP responsible: True committee: PANA date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 committee_full: PANA Committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion rapporteur: group: S&D name: KOFOD Jeppe group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee	PANA/8/08635
procedure/stage_reached	Old Preparatory phase in Parliament New Awaiting committee decision

2017-02-02Show (1) Changes | Timetravel

committees/0/committee_full

Old

PANA Committee of inquiry on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion

New

PANA Committee of inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion

2017-01-31Show (5) Changes

activities
committees	body: EP responsible: True committee: PANA date: 2016-09-29T00:00:00 2016-09-29T00:00:00 committee_full: PANA Committee of inquiry on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion rapporteur: group: S&D name: KOFOD Jeppe group: ALDE name: JEŽEK Petr
links
other
procedure	reference 2017/2013(INI) title Inquiry into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion legal_basis Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052 stage_reached Preparatory phase in Parliament summary See also Directive 2005/60/EC See also Directive 2011/16/EU See also Directive 2013/36/EU See also Directive 2014/107/EU See also Directive 2014/91/EU See also Directive 2015/849 subtype Special committee/Committee of inquiry type INI - Own-initiative procedure subject 3.45.04 Company taxation 7.30.30.08 Capital outflow, money laundering 8.50.01 Implementation of EU law

Progress: Procedure completed

Lead committee dossier:

PANA/8/08635

Legal Basis:

Subjects

Links

Events

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Activities

History

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