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French Court Overturns Provision in EU Laundering Directive Regarding Lawyers
By Brian Monroe
printFrance's highest court has overturned a law requiring lawyers to report the suspicious activities of their clients related to money laundering, a provision of the European Union's Second Money Laundering directive, which France adopted by decree in 2006. The State Council ruled April 10 that law enforcement shouldn't be allowed direct access to lawyers when requesting information on the potential suspicious activities of clients, but must go through an intermediary such as a bar association or the top executive at their law firm. The Council, the French equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled that an exception that exempts lawyers...
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