Romania has made limited progress in improving its legislative and operational framework against money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Although Romanian authorities have taken some steps forward, including targeted financial sanctions, there are still several moderate technical deficiencies that have not yet been corrected, warns a report published on Thursday by MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s evaluation body.
The report highlights that Romania has not made sufficient progress to improve its ratings on four recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), regarding the enforcement of financial sanctions, regulation of virtual assets and service providers, as well as the collection of relevant statistics.
As a result, these four areas remain rated as "partially compliant."
Out of the 40 FATF recommendations, Romania is considered "compliant" with only seven, "largely compliant" with 18, and "partially compliant" with 15.
This assessment keeps Romania under MONEYVAL's enhanced follow-up procedure, meaning that Romanian authorities will need to submit a new progress report in May 2026.
The European body emphasizes the need for substantial strengthening of the national framework to align Romania's practices with international standards in the field of combating financial crime and associated global risks.