European Parliament Study on the Impact of Financial Services in EU FTAs on Money Laundering, Tax Evasion and Elusion

Nov 1, 2015 - Mar 1, 2016

Project description

Research teams of the Asser Institute and the University of Groningen have been awarded a grant to produce a study for the European Parliament's Committee for International Trade (INTA). The study will analyse legal and empirical impact of the inclusion of financial services in EU free trade and association agreements on money laundering, tax evasion and elusion.

The study focuses on EU agreements with South Korea, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, South Africa and Serbia. The comparative legal part of the study is carried out by the Asser Institute's research team composed of Wybe Douma, Davor Jancic, Luca Pantaleo, Steffen van der Velde and Onur Güven. The empirical part of the study is conducted by the Groningen research team.

The study will provide policy recommendations that will feed into the European Parliament's scrutiny over the EU's ongoing trade negotiations, notably those with the US on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and those launched with the Philippines in December 2015.