FATF launches a Public Consultation on the Revision of Recommendation 8, asking for input on a ‘limited and focused revision’ of the standard.

Recommendation 8 spells out FATF’s standard for governments to address the risk of terrorist abuse of non profit organisations (NPOs). This is your chance to influence policy that has a direct bearing on the operational space of NPOs in particular and of civil society in general. Comments are due Friday April 29 by 18:00 CET (12:00, US Eastern). FATF’s description of the process and a link to the public consultation template, (the required format for comments) is here. It is a major opportunity to address problematic language in the current version of Recommendation 8, that says non  profits are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to terrorist abuse. This language has contributed to excessively restrictive regulation of non profits and also to the trend of banks derisking accounts for non profits that operate internationally. FATF agreed to open Recommendation 8 up for revision at its February meeting, following a written request from 123 organizations from 23 countries sent in January 2016.