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1. The Authority shall set up a peer review process of the activities of FIUs pursuant to Chapter III of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 to strengthen the consistency and effectiveness of FIU activities and to facilitate the exchange of best practices between FIUs. The Authority shall develop methods to allow for an objective assessment of the FIUs reviewed and also develop rules of procedure for the conduct of peer reviews. Where relevant, the planning and conducting of peer reviews shall take due account of the evaluations, assessments and reports drawn up by international organisations and intergovernmental bodies with competence in the field of preventing and detecting money laundering, its predicate offences and terrorist financing.

2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the Authority shall set up a peer review team, which shall be composed of the staff of the Authority and representatives of the FIUs participating in the peer review.

3. The peer review of the activities of an FIU shall include an assessment of, but shall not be limited to, the following:

(a) the adequacy of the FIU’s resources, including human and technical and IT resources, to perform its functions;

(b) the measures implemented to ensure that the FIU has operational independence and autonomy and is not subject to undue influence;

(c) the measures that the FIU has put in place to protect the security and confidentiality of information;

(d) the FIU’s function to receive suspicious transaction reports and other disclosures, including the number and nature of disclosures received and their quality;

(e) the measures that the FIU has put in place to enhance the reporting of suspicious transactions by obliged entities, in particular in relation to their quality;

(f) the FIU’s access to and use of additional information to enrich its analysis;

(g) the tools used by the FIU to carry out an analysis;

(h) the extent to which the FIU’s analysis and dissemination support the operational needs of authorities competent for the investigation and prosecution of money laundering, its predicate offences and terrorist financing;

(i) domestic cooperation between the FIU and other competent authorities;

(j) cross-border cooperation between the FIU and FIUs from other Member States.

4. The Authority shall produce a report setting out the results of the peer review. That peer review report shall be jointly prepared by the staff of the Authority and the relevant staff of the FIUs involved in the peer review team, and shall be adopted by the Executive Board, having received the observations of the General Board in FIU composition as to the consistency of application of the methodology with other peer review reports. The report shall include good practices identified and, where relevant, follow-up measures that are deemed appropriate, proportionate and necessary as a result of the peer review. Those follow-up measures may be adopted in the form of guidelines and recommendations pursuant to Article 54 and an opinion pursuant to Article 55. FIUs shall make every effort to comply with any guidelines and recommendations issued in accordance with Article 54.

5. The Authority shall publish the findings of the peer review on its website and submit an opinion to the Commission where, having regard to the outcome of the peer review or to any other information acquired by the Authority in carrying out its tasks, it considers that further harmonisation of Union rules applicable to FIUs would be necessary from the Union’s perspective.

6. The Authority shall provide a follow-up report two years after the publication of the peer review report. The follow-up report shall be jointly prepared by the staff of the Authority and the relevant staff of the FIUs involved in the peer review team, and shall be adopted by the Executive Board, having received the observations of the General Board in FIU composition as to the consistency of application of the methodology with other peer review reports. The follow-up report shall include an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of the actions undertaken by the FIUs that were subject to the peer review in response to the follow-up measures of the peer review report. The Authority shall publish the findings of the follow-up report on its website.

7. For the purposes of this Article, the Executive Board shall adopt a peer review work plan every two years, which shall reflect the lessons learnt from the past peer review processes and discussions held in the General Board in FIU composition. The peer review work plan shall constitute a separate part of the annual and multiannual working programme and shall be included in the single programming document. Every FIU shall participate in the peer reviews which concern it.