The European Commission is taking action against several EU Member States that have failed to notify the Commission of measures they have adopted to transpose EU Directives into their national laws.
The European Commission announced new measures on 25 September 2025 to guarantee the full and timely transposition of EU directives, including the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1640).
The European Commission is taking action against several EU Member States that have failed to notify the Commission of measures they have adopted to transpose EU Directives into their national laws. The deadline to transpose these Directives has recently expired.
The Commission is sending a letter of formal notice to Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden; for failing to fully notify national measures transposing the 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive to guarantee comprehensive access to information of beneficial ownership of legal entities, trusts or similar arrangements.
The Commission is giving them two months to reply and complete the transposition of the Directives. If they fail to do so, the Commission may pass to a next step and issue a reasoned opinion. The Member States in question have failed to fully transpose four EU directives related to financial stability, home affairs and health. The Commission is urging them to take immediate action to bring their laws in line with EU requirements.
The 6th AML Directive mainly deals with organisational and institutional issues of the anti-money laundering and countering the finance of terrorism preventive framework, which are addressed respectively to the Member States, their supervisory authorities, and Financial Intelligence Units. The provisions of the Directive must be transposed by different dates. In general, Member States must transpose the major part of the Directive by 10 July 2027, when the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive as amended by the fifth one (Directive (EU) 2015/849) will be repealed. By the first deadline, 10 July 2025, Member States had to guarantee comprehensive access to information of beneficial ownership of legal entities, trusts or similar arrangements (including access by persons with a legitimate interest).
To date, 11 Member States have not declared full transposition by this first legal deadline. The gradual implementation of the 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive is key to preventing any vulnerabilities of their financial systems and ensuring that all Member States consistently and effectively uphold their anti-money laundering standards.
