Source: European Parliament
Panama has been removed from the EU list of high-risk third countries since 5 August 2025. Panama’s removal is a direct result of improvements in its Anti-Money Laundering/Countering The Financing Of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework and a recognition of Panama’s efforts as the country is no longer considered high-risk.
According to the methodology for identifying high-risk third countries under Directive 2015/849[1], any third country representing a risk to the international financial system identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is presumed to represent a risk to the EU internal market and will in principle also be listed by the EU. When that country is delisted by the FATF, and provided there are no remaining strategic deficiencies, the Commission services will initiate the necessary procedure with a view to updating the EU AML/CFT list, as appropriate.
Although Panama was delisted by the FATF in October 2023, it remained listed by the EU due to remaining strategic deficiencies. In January 2024, after further exchanges with Panama, the Commission concluded that Panama had addressed these deficiencies. On 14 March 2024, the Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation[2] to remove Panama and other countries from the EU list, but in April 2024 the European Parliament objected to the set of countries to be delisted.
On 10 June 2025, following engagement with several third countries to address the concerns raised by the European Parliament in the April 2024 resolution, the Commission adopted a new Delegated regulation with a view to updating the EU list. That regulation has been published in the Official Journal on 16 July 2025 as Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1184 and has entered into force on 5 August 2025[3].