Austria will be obliged further to relax its strict banking secrecy regulations following a decision by a meeting of EU Justice and Finance Ministers in Luxembourg yesterday. Austrian Justice Minister Dieter Boehmdorfer confirmed that a new protocol on mutual assistance on investigations into money laundering would necessitate changes to current legislation in the Alpine republic.
At present, Austrian courts are only permitted to order banks to submit information regarding individual accounts. Under the new protocol, however, it will be possible for courts in other EU member states to request information on all accounts held at financial institutions in Austria by a suspect individual. The EU wants member states to implement the protocol within the next nine months.
Boehmdorfer said he did not rule out the possibility that this would require the creation of a central database to guarantee a rapid response to such requests for assistance from abroad. He added that he would give priority to ensuring Austrian regulations were brought into line with EU guidelines. The German government has already unveiled proposals to set up a database containing details of every bank account in the country.
The protocol forms part of a package of measures agreed by EU Finance and Justice Ministers to halt the flow of funding to terrorists and criminal organisations. In addition to banks, the new rules will require art dealers, real estate agents and casino operators to notify cases of suspected money laundering to the relevant authorities. Austrian Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser said however that the regulation would not apply to lawyers or tax advisers.