Countering the Chameleon Threat of Dirty Money: "Hard" and "Soft" Law in the Emergence of a Global Regime Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance (From Transnational Organised Crime: Perspectives on Global Security, P 195-211, 2003, Adam Edwards and Peter Gill, eds. -- See NCJ-212841)

• NCJ Number: 212852
• Author(s): Valsamis Mitsilegas
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Routledge
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter examines the role and relationship between “hard” and “soft” law in the evolution of a global, multi-level anti-money-laundering regime.

Abstract

An outcome of a policy consensus by developed countries has been the proliferation of money laundering countermeasures in the international arena which has occurred in a relatively short period of time. This consensus has resulted in a comprehensive global anti-money-laundering regime. A regime that emerged over the past 14 years resulting from the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. In relation to the emergence of this global anti-money-laundering regime, the development of alternative “hard” and “soft” (ethical principles and recommendations) legal tools have emerged as countermeasures. The consequence of these hard and soft legal tools is that the duties for reporting suspicious transactions have been extended beyond banks and other financial institutions to “intermediary” professionals. These individuals are thought to be potentially responsible for providing the apparent sophistication and respectability to some laundering operations. Notes, references