The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa has published revised procedures for the second round of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism mutual evaluations of its member states. The framework sets out how GIABA will assess both technical compliance with Financial Action Task Force standards and the effectiveness of national AML/CFT systems, and establishes the process from pre-on-site preparation through report adoption, publication and follow-up. The procedures state that evaluations will examine whether the required laws, regulations and institutional arrangements are in place and whether systems are achieving the 11 Immediate Outcomes. They set detailed timelines for country submissions, assessor selection, scoping of higher-risk areas, on-site visits, drafting of mutual evaluation reports, quality and consistency review, and post-plenary checks before publication. The framework also defines two follow-up tracks after adoption of a mutual evaluation report: regular follow-up, with biennial reporting, and enhanced follow-up, with annual reporting for countries with significant deficiencies, including eight or more non-compliant or partially compliant technical ratings, non-compliance or partial compliance on Recommendations 3, 5, 10, 11 or 20, low or moderate effectiveness on seven or more Immediate Outcomes, or low effectiveness on four or more Immediate Outcomes. GIABA said it will periodically review the procedures to address ongoing challenges. The document also provides that countries are assessed against the FATF standards in force at the date of the on-site visit, and that a follow-up assessment is to take place five years after adoption of the mutual evaluation report.

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