Money laundering directive: EU initiates proceedings against Austria

Austria must react to deficiencies

The Anti-Money Laundering Directive defines criminal offenses and sanctions against natural and legal persons in connection with money laundering. Its aim is to facilitate police and judicial cooperation between EU member states and to prevent criminals from taking advantage of more lenient legal systems.

Given the incorrect implementation The Commission will send a formal notification of the regulation to Austria, Germany and France Reminder letter. The countries now have two months to respond to and correct the deficiencies identified by the Commission. If there is no satisfactory response, the Commission may send reasoned opinions in the next step of the infringement procedure.

Gender parity directive: legal action before the ECJ is imminent

According to the Commission, Austria and eight other EU countries have not communicated the necessary national measures to implement the directive on gender parity on supervisory boards on time. The directive requires large listed EU companies to have 40 percent of the underrepresented gender on their non-executive boards and 33 percent on all supervisory boards. The deadline for implementation by the member states ended on December 28, 2024. The Commission initiated infringement proceedings in January 2025 because several EU states – including Austria – had missed the deadline.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Hungary, Poland and Portugal have not yet communicated any complete implementation measures, the Brussels authority explains today its further step in the process. States now have two months to respond to the reasoned opinion and take action. Otherwise, the Commission may refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union and request that fines be imposed.