House Approves Terrorism Regulations

The Terrorism Prevention (Reporting Entities) Regulations 2010, which sets out procedures that are to be followed by the relevant bodies in their business operations to ensure that they are not supporting terrorism financing, was approved in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 16).
Leader of Government Business in the Lower House and Minister of Education Hon. Andrew Holness, noted that the regulations also set out the procedures for reporting to the Director of Prosecutions or any person designated by the relevant Minister under Section 15 of the Terrorism Prevention Act.
“The requirements for dealing with the competent authority, which is for this purpose the Minister of Finance (and Planning), are also established,” Mr. Holness said.
Other areas which the regulations cover include training to prevent terrorism offences; verification of customer identity and update of consumer information; transaction verification procedures; and record keeping procedures.
The approval of the regulations is critical to the Government fulfilling its obligations to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), of which the country is a member.
The FATF has the mandate of developing and promoting national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Within the last week, Parliament has passed amendments to the Terrorism Prevention Act to allow for higher penalties for breaches and to ensure that terrorist financing will be subject to severe punishment under the laws of Jamaica.
The Terrorism Prevention (Reporting Entities) Regulations 2010 will be sent to the Senate for its approval on Friday (March 19).