Two new countries have joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the important international economic organizations – in 2018.
On 5 June 2018 Lithuania has become a full OECD member state, having implemented on the national level the steps necessary for accession to the organization. Earlier the relevant OECD bodies following the results of assessment made by them came to the conclusion of willingness and ability of Lithuania to implement the key OECD legal instruments into its legislation, policy and practices. Lithuania has become the 36th OECD member state.
On 10 December 2018 Israel has joined FATF as a full member, after being the observer in FATF since February 2016. As is reported, Israel has undergone a rigorous assessment of its measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and showed good results in identifying and responding to the relevant risks. As a result of this, Israel has become the 38th FATF member state.
OECD is an international organization that mainly unites the advanced economies and develops and promotes policies and recommendations in financial (including tax), economic and social spheres. Last decade the organization’s impact on states’ domestic legislation has increased dramatically, not only for OECD member states, but also for other non-member countries. The examples are the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (CRS) and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) action plan, both developed under the auspices of OECD, but got almost global coverage.
FATF is an organization which develops unified approaches to combat legalization (laundering) criminally obtained money and financing of terrorism. The FATF standards and recommendations serve as a base for the member states’ national legal framework in banking and other financial services sector.
