UN Convention against Corruption

In its resolution 3/1, the Conference adopted the terms of reference of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and in accordance with article 42 of the terms of reference of the review mechanism, established the Implementation Review Group as an open-ended intergovernmental group of States parties, which operates under the authority of and report to the Conference. The functions of the Implementation Review Group are to have an overview of the review process in order to identify challenges and good practices and to consider technical assistance requirements in order to ensure effective implementation of the Convention. The Group meets two times a year in Vienna.

Regarding the criminalization of money-laundering (Article 23), the most common implementation challenges identified by the parties to the UNCAC, in order of prevalence, were:

1. The scope of predicate offences committed within and outside the jurisdiction, and application of the money-laundering offence to predicate crimes under the Convention.
2. Coverage of specific acts of laundering, namely the conversion or transfer of proceeds of crime, concealment or disguise, and in particular the acquisition, possession or use of proceeds (art. 23(1)(a)-(b)(i)).
3. Application of national laws to participatory acts to money-laundering, including association and conspiracy.
4. Furnishing copies of AML legislation to the United Nations.
5. “Self-laundering” is not addressed.

In its resolution 4/1, the Conference endorsed the guidelines for governmental experts and the secretariat in the conduct of country reviews and the blueprint for country review reports as finalized by the Group at its first session and the practice followed by the Group with regard to the procedural issues arising from the drawing of lots.

Technical Assistance Needs

With respect to article 23 of the Convention on laundering of proceeds of crime, during the first cycle of the IRM, 47 States identified a total of 117 technical assistance needs. The States have required assistance concerning the following subjects (in order of importance, from the areas where most States regard as assistance is needed, to the issues where assistance is least required by States):

• Summary of Good practices and lessons learned;
• Legislative drafting/advice;
• Capacity Building programmes;
• On-site expert;
• Model legislation;
• Development of action plan;
• Technological assistance;
• Model treaties/agreements.

This information has been translated into the following graph. Figure 20 shows the regional break-up of the States requiring technical assistance on the topics signalled above. Figure 20 shows that 24 States from the Asia-Pacific, 16 from the Africa and 7 from Latin America and Caribbean indicated they have technical assistance needs in relation to money laundering.