AG/RES. 1459 (XXVII-O/97)

COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING

(Resolution adopted at the sixth plenary session, held on June 4, 1997)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN:

The report of the Permanent Council on the need to examine and agree on a coordinated hemispheric response, including the consideration of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering (AG/doc.3541/97); and

Resolution AG/RES. 1396 (XXVI-O/96), "Combating Money Laundering," which instructed the Permanent Council's Working Group on Money Laundering to continue consideration of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering;

CONSIDERING:

The decision taken by the heads of state and government at the Summit of the Americas held in 1994 on the need to "hold a working-level conference, to be followed by a ministerial conference, to study and agree on a coordinated hemispheric response, including consideration of an inter-American convention, to combat money laundering"; and

The recommendation of the Ministerial Conference concerning the Laundering of Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime, held in Buenos Aires on December 2, 1995, whereby, in order to comply fully with the mandate conferred by the heads of state and government, a working group was to be established under the auspices of the OAS to consider the proposal of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering and to identify priorities for the basic harmonization of national laws;

REAFFIRMING that the transfer, exchange, and investment of illicit proceeds from drug trafficking and other illegal activities are serious crimes and a challenge to law enforcement and can jeopardize financial and trading systems; and

MINDFUL of the work performed by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) and especially of its decision to convene the Group of Experts that developed the "Model Regulations concerning Laundering Offenses Connected to Illicit Drug Trafficking and Related Offenses," so that it might continue to prepare a plan of action for CICAD pursuant to the recommendations of the Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires in December 1995,

RESOLVES:

1. To receive with satisfaction the report of the Permanent Council on the work of its Working Group responsible for studying and agreeing on a coordinated hemispheric response, including the consideration of an inter-American convention to combat money laundering as well as the identification of priorities for basic harmonization of national laws for the same purpose.

2. To take note of the interest expressed by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) in supporting the countries in the evaluations they conduct to implement the Plan of Action of Buenos Aires, and of its interest in collaborating, in the areas within its purview, with the Working Group on Money Laundering.

3. To extend the mandate granted to the Working Group on Money Laundering so that it may continue to consider an inter-American convention to combat money laundering.

4. To request the CICAD Group of Experts to examine, in coordination with the Executive Secretariat and from its essentially technical perspective, the various existing national and international instruments on this subject and present an analytical technical report that may serve as background for the analysis to be done by the Working Group and for the decisions to be taken by the Council.

5. To urge all the governments to adopt as soon as possible, in accordance with their domestic law, the measures needed for strengthening their legal, judicial, and administrative systems, and to develop the mechanisms needed for establishing close international cooperation, which includes the exchange of information and evidence, so as to eliminate money laundering and the proceeds and instrumentalities used in that criminal activity.

6. To request the Permanent Council to present a report on the implementation of this resolution to the General Assembly at its twenty-eighth regular session.