Mauritius officially removed from the European Commission’s high-risk third countries list

Mauritius is officially out of the European Commission’s list of high-risk third countries. Following the one-month scrutiny period, the Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 21^st February 2022.

This confirms that Mauritius complies with international best practices in the financial services industry, especially in terms of AML/CFT procedures, support and supervision. Mauritius forms part of the countries that “have provided a written high-level political commitment to address the identified deficiencies and have developed an action plan with FATF”.

According to Vikash Chumun, Managing Director at Sunibel Corporate Services: “The removal of Mauritius from the EU blacklist is the evidence of the commitment, from the authorities and industry players, to comply with international best practices. Further to this, we are proud to say that Mauritius remains a destination of choice for cross-border trade and investment structuring into Africa and Asia.”

Click here to read the communiqué published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Click here to read the communiqué from the Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance.

The European Commission moves to withdraw Mauritius from its ‘blacklist’

17 January 2022

The European Commission confirmed on 7 January 2022, through its Delegated Regulation, that Mauritius has been removed Mauritius from its list of high-risk third countries, who have deficiencies in its Anti Money-Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

Following the removal of Mauritius from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ‘grey-list’ has encouraged the European Commission to review the information from the FATF. With bold policies and measures to adhere to the highest international standards in combatting AML/CFT matters, the European Commission has decided to de-list Mauritius from its blacklist through the adoption of a delegated act.

The Delegated Regulation is a confirmation that the formal process has begun for the removal of Mauritius from the EU blacklist. This will be followed by the approval of the EU delegates to mark the confirmation of our compliance with international best practices in the financial services industry. The EU Council shall adopt the regulation as of 7 February 2022. Indeed, it is important to note that the European Council and European Parliament have a scrutiny period of one month in order to object to this Act. If there is no objection, the Act will be published in the EU Official Journal and it will enter into force 20 days after the publication.

Measures taken by Mauritius include the increase in domestic and international cooperation; efforts to investigate and prosecute money laundering; enhancing the capacities of investigative authorities to detect risk in medium and high-risk sectors; in addition to improving the capacity of AML supervision of the global business sector and providing adequate support of the supervision of the non-financial sector.

For Vikash Chumun, Managing Director at Sunibel Corporate Services: “Mauritius has always shown its conviction and willingness to remain a compliant and transparent International Financial Centre. This good news further reinstate the position of Mauritius as a leading jurisdiction in the global financial services industry, as well as a leading investment destination and domicile of choice for cross-border investment structuring into Africa and Asia.”

Click here to read the official communiqué.