Before drawing up its blacklist, now official since Friday, the European Commission based itself on the observations of the Financial Action Task Force. This intergovernmental entity, known as the FATF, is the global body overseeing the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. 

Last February, the FATF identified Mauritius as a jurisdiction with disabilities in this fight.

In the Eu's Official Journal, the European Commission criticises Mauritius for the following: 

1) deficiencies in the demonstration that supervisors in the international segment of the financial sector and designated non-financial enterprises and professions are implementing risk-based supervision;

(2) the fact that competent authorities do not have timely access to accurate basic and beneficial ownership information;

3) failure to demonstrate that law enforcement authorities have the capacity to conduct money laundering investigations, including parallel financial investigations and complex cases;

4) the failure to implement a risk-based approach to oversight of the not-for-profit sector, aimed at preventing misuse for terrorist financing purposes;

5) failure to demonstrate the adequate implementation of targeted financial sanctions through information and monitoring activities.

Later in its Official Journal, the European Union writes: 

'In accordance with the latest relevant information, the Commission's assessment concluded that the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Burma, Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe should consider as third-country jurisdictions which have strategic deficiencies in their AMI/CFT regime that pose significant threats to the fiancial system of the Union, in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2015/849.'

The following is an excerpt from the observations made by the European Union: