On June 8, 2016 the European Parliament decided to 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, its powers, numerical strength and term of office. The Committee will have 65 Members and shall submit its final report within 12 months.
The European Parliament Conference of Presidents (EP President and political group leaders), already agreed on the committee’s mandate on June 2, 2016.
According to the adopted resolution the Committee of Inquiry shall:
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce effectively Directive 2005/60/EC, taking into account the obligation of timely and effective implementation of Directive (EU) 2015/849;
– investigate the alleged failure of Member States authorities to apply administrative penalties and other administrative measures to institutions found liable of serious breach of the national provisions adopted pursuant to Directive 2005/60/EC, as required by the Directive 2013/36/EU;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States authorities to implement effectively Directive 2011/16/EU especially Article 9(1) thereof on spontaneous communication of tax information to another Member State in cases where there are grounds for supposing that there may be a loss of tax, taking into account the obligation of timely and effective implementation and enforcement of Directive 2014/107/EU; for this purpose and for investigations on other legal bases regarding alleged contraventions or maladministration mentioned, make use of access to all relevant documents, including to all relevant documents of the Code of Conduct Group which have been obtained by the TAXE 1 and TAXE 2 special committees;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Member States to enforce Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, relevant to the scope of the inquiry provided for in this decision;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce Directive 2014/91/EU;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce Directive 2011/61/EU and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 231/2013;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce Directive 2009/138/EC;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce effectively Directive 2006/43/EC, taking into account the obligation of timely and effective implementation of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 and Directive 2014/56/EU;
– investigate the alleged failure of Member States to transpose Directive 2013/34/EU;
– investigate the alleged failure of the Commission to enforce and of Member States to implement and to enforce effectively Directive 2012/17/EU;
– investigate potential breach of the duty of sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union by any Member State and their associate and dependent territories in so far as it is relevant to the scope of the inquiry provided for in this decision; to that end, assess in particular whether any such breach may arise from the alleged failure to take the appropriate measures to prevent the operation of vehicles that allow their ultimate beneficial owners to be hidden from financial institutions and other intermediaries, lawyers, trust and company service providers or the operation of any other vehicles and intermediaries that allow the facilitation of money laundering, as well as tax evasion and tax avoidance in other Member States (including looking at the role of trusts, single-member private limited liability companies and virtual currencies), while also taking into account current ongoing work programmes that are taking place at Member State level which seek to address these issues and mitigate their effect;
– make any recommendations that it deems necessary in this matter, including on the implementation by Member States of the abovementioned Commission Recommendations of 6 December 2012 regarding measures intended to encourage third countries to apply minimum standards of good governance in tax matters and aggressive tax planning, as well as assess latest developments of the Commission’s External strategy for effective taxation and assess the links between the legal framework of the Union and Member States and the tax systems of third countries (e.g. Double Taxation Agreements and Information Exchange Agreements, Free Trade Agreements) as well as efforts made to promote, at international level (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, G20, Financial Action Task Force and United Nations), the transparency of beneficial ownership information;
Click here to be forwarded to the Provisional Edition of the Resolution as adopted by the European Parliament as available on the website of the European Parliament.
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