Recent years have seen an increase in public-private partnerships in the fight against financial crime. At the international level, such partnerships have been welcomed by the United Nations Security Council and by the FATF. At the EU level, partnerships are not only supported by a Commission Staff Working Document but have also been welcomed by the European Parliament and the Council during the ongoing negotiations on the anti-money laundering (AML) legislative package. Meanwhile, a number of countries in and outside the EU have been developing partnerships of various design. While most partnerships provide for an exchange of strategic information, some initiatives have already gone further and allow for the sharing of tactical information – that is, information that targets specific suspects and other specific persons of interest. The sharing of personal data is widely considered more problematic, however, as it affects fundamental rights more directly and is usually not provided for in national legal frameworks. These concerns were amplified in a letter by the European Data Protection Board.
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