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Pieth, Mark --- "International standards against money laundering" [2004] ELECD 129; in Pieth, Mark; Aiolfi, Gemma (eds), "A Comparative Guide to Anti-Money Laundering" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: A Comparative Guide to Anti-Money Laundering

Editor(s): Pieth, Mark; Aiolfi, Gemma

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843766735

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: International standards against money laundering

Author(s): Pieth, Mark

Number of pages: 40

Extract:

1. International standards against money
laundering
Mark Pieth

I INTRODUCTION
The international standards against money laundering are the starting points
for our comparison of anti-money laundering (AML) structures and practice in
the four financial centres that are examined in this book. In taking a look at the
international developments over the last 15 years, we aim to appraise the level
of their implementation at the country level, pinpoint particular national and
local solutions and also highlight differences between approaches in the vari-
ous jurisdictions.
This chapter gives an historic narrative of the development of the interna-
tional rules and, in going beyond the official historiography, raises questions
that have hitherto seldom been addressed. Furthermore, although the common
assumption that the emergence of international law is a result of policy initia-
tives put forward by the leading powers is essentially correct, it is equally true
­ as the participant observer can attest ­ that outcomes at the international
level are also due to personality, circumstance and coincidence and, if we lose
sight of these `soft factors' the narrative risks become rather austere.


II CREATING A NEW PARADIGM (1970­1990)
A New Weapons in the War on Drugs

`Economic crime' is as old as the organized economy itself. Criminals invari-
ably need to hide their bounty, but they also want to be able to retrieve and use
it as they like. This is an aspect frequently overlooked. So why did the world
community in the latter part of the 20th century feel compelled ...