This afternoon, El Salvador’s Attorney General presented the new Special Law for the Prevention, Control, and Sanction of Money Laundering and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction before the Legislative Assembly’s National Security and Justice Commission.
According to the Attorney General, the law aims to bring El Salvador into a first-class regulatory framework that focuses on prevention, detection, and combating criminal activities without the overregulation of the 1999 legislation. “The regulations must be updated, it is an urgent necessity. We cannot continue with a framework that has been in force since 1999, which includes overregulation that hinders financial inclusion,” he said.
The proposal strengthens the role of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and is based on three key recommendations designed to boost financial openness. A central component is the creation of the Interinstitutional Committee for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (CIPLAFT), which would foster cooperation among the three branches of government, represented by the Financial System Superintendence, the Ministry of Economy, and the Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General also noted that the new framework redefines the category of obligated entities. “Currently, an entrepreneur who decides to form a small corporation automatically becomes an obligated subject,” he explained, emphasizing that under the reform, legal entities would be excluded except those engaged in financial activities or forming part of financial conglomerates.
If approved, the law would align El Salvador with international standards, positioning the country at the forefront of efforts to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, while improving its standing in upcoming evaluations by organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).