jafic_2012e

Table 6-1 Overview of the “40 Recommendations” and “9 Special Recommendations,”

and Results of the Third FATF Mutual Evaluation of Japan

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2 Activities

The main activities of APG are as follows.

1 Promotion of compliance with the FATF Recommendations in the Asia/Pacific region2 Promotion of legislation on AML/CFT in the APG member jurisdictions

3 Mutual Evaluations on APG member jurisdictions

4 Information exchange and analysis on the trend of money laundering in the Asia/Pacific region

3 Participation of JAFIC

Japan is one of the founding members of APG and has been actively contributing to the activities of APG, much as it has with FATF. For example, the first Plenary Meeting and second typology meeting were both held in Tokyo in March 1998 and March 1999 respectively and Japan took the role of cochair with Australia between July 2004 and June 2006. This approach has not been changed even after the functions of FIU were transferred to JAFIC. Since its establishment, JAFIC has continued to send staff members to the Plenary

Meeting and the typology meetings to participate in the study on the best practice of information analysis conducted by FIUs and on the latest modus operandi and trend of money laundering.

Paragraph 3 Egmont Group

1 Egmont Group

The Egmont Group is an international forum established mainly by FIUs of several European nations and the United States in April 1995 with the goal of promoting cooperation on information exchange, trainings and expertise between FIUs around the world engaging in AML measures. The group is named after the Egmont castle in Belgium where the first plenary session was held. Although the Egmont Group was established as an informal forum at the beginning, it has become an internationally recognized official body at present, through the adoption of the Egmont Group Charter at the May 2007 annual plenary in Bermuda and the establishment of its permanent Secretariat in Toronto, Canada. The Egmont Group consists of FIUs of 131 jurisdictions as of the end of December 2012.

2 Activities of the Egmont Group

In addition to the annual Plenary Meeting which representatives from all member FIUs attend, the Egmont Group has the following working groups, which are held twice a year.

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Section 2 Progress of the International

Cooperation in 2012

Paragraph 1 Participation in the Activities of International Organizations

Table 6-3 presents that JAFIC has been actively participating in the activities of international organizations by sending its members to each occasion.

Table 6-3 Participation in the Activities of International Organizations in 2012

Paragraph 2 Information Exchange with Foreign FIUs

1 Establishment of the Framework for Exchange of Information

It is necessary to exchange information on suspicious transactions with foreign FIUs timely in order to detect money laundering and terrorist financing by appropriately tracing criminal proceeds or terrorist financing transferred

across borders.

On the other hand, Article 13 (pre-revision Article 12) of the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds stipulates that JAFIC may disseminate information on suspicious transactions to foreign FIUs on condition that there is a framework governing the restrictions on the use of the disseminated information in foreign countries. In response, JAFIC has established the necessary framework by exchanging a docu - ment specifying the restrictions on the use

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JAFIC: Japan Financial Intelligence Center

changing information which are considered beneficial in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.

The number of cases where JAFIC exchanged information with foreign FIUs in 2012 totaled 191.

In order to facilitate exchange of information, JAFIC has carried out various activities such as learning how foreign FIUs analyze information and how foreign investigative authorities utilize the funds information etc. JAFIC has also conducted discussions, for the activation of future exchange of information, by visiting FIUs of jurisdictions where there is a need for close coordination especially from the viewpoint of countermeasures against money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as FIUs of other jurisdictions where there still is no framework for information exchange.

3 Discussions

The following presents the discussions held with foreign FIUs and international organizations in 2012:

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