Austria Criticized for Lack of Progress on Anti-Money Laundering Reforms

Austria has received two critical reports from the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), a key body within the Council of Europe, highlighting significant shortcomings in its anti-money laundering (AML) reforms. The reports assess Austria’s compliance with international AML standards and reveal slow progress in addressing corruption-related issues.

The first report was a follow-up to a 2017 evaluation that examined measures to prevent corruption among members of parliament, judges, and prosecutors. GRECO found that Austria had satisfactorily addressed only three out of the nineteen recommendations made in the original assessment. “Of the outstanding sixteen recommendations, eleven remain partly implemented and five remain not implemented,” the organization stated.

GRECO expressed strong concerns about Austria’s lack of progress, concluding that the country “must substantially step up its response.” The report further noted that “the vast majority of recommendations remain partly implemented or not implemented in this Compliance Report.”

A second report, published the same day, focused on Austria’s efforts to prevent corruption within law enforcement and among high-ranking government officials. This report followed up on a 2023 evaluation and found that Austria had successfully implemented just one of the nineteen recommendations. “Of the 18 outstanding recommendations, six recommendations have been partly implemented and twelve have not been implemented,” GRECO stated.

The organization stressed the urgency of further reforms, warning that Austria “needs to make further progress within the next 18 months.” If improvements are not made, the country will fail to reach what GRECO describes as an “adequate level of compliance with the recommendations.” Austria has been instructed to submit additional information to the Council of Europe by 31 May 2026, detailing its efforts to address these concerns.

By fLEXI tEAM