12 February 2015

Dear DAFNE Colleague,

We are contacting you to give you a quick update on the Financial Action Task Force’s revision of the “Best Practices Paper” (BPP) on Recommendation 8 and to ask for your help to get support for the nonprofit sector recommendations from FATF member governments (you may have received this email already if you are also on the mailing list for the transnational NPO Working Group on FATF).

Here is a quick summary of where things stand with the BPP revision: (Scroll down for steps you can take.)

• We sent our initial input on the BPP to FATF in late December. The main points from that paper are attached in a one-page handout called “Key Points for BPP Revision.”
• A draft of the revised BPP is circulating among FATF member governments and will be discussed at FATF’s upcoming plenary meeting (22-27 Feb). FATF has not shared the draft yet and will not release anything until after the plenary.
• The working group leadership had a conference call with FATF on 2 February to discuss the issues and the process. A short summary of that meeting is attached FYI.
• FATF plans to hold a one day consultation with NPOs to discuss the BPP on 25 March in Brussels.
• Overall we were encouraged by the direction of the dialog in the 2 February conference call.

Next steps and action you can take:

• Find out who represents your government at the FATF plenary (likely to be in Finance Ministry or Treasury Dept.) and request a meeting with NPOs. A list of FATF members is here. Pass on the key points (attached) from our input.
• Ask your FATF delegation to support the NPO sector Key Points at the February plenary.
• After the plenary follow up and ask about outcomes and ask for a copy of the draft BPP.
• If your country is not a member of FATF find out who in government is the contact for the FATF regional body (i.e. the Asia Pacific Group). See a list of the regional bodies here. (scroll down for the list of “associate members”)
• Let us know what happens or if you need assistance.
• Call in to a telebriefing for updates and strategizing on Friday 6 March at 10am US Eastern Time / 4pm Central European time (see attached document for call-in information).

Best regards,

Hanna Surmatz
Legal Counsel
European Foundation Centre

Download the FATF BPP Revision Key Points