And the definition of ‘cash’ widens.
By Don Quijones, Spain, UK, & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET.
The EU’s Orwellian-dubbed Civil Liberties and Economic Affairs committee has approved tough new rules on cash that travelers might bring into or take out of the bloc. It’s also broadened the definition of cash to include precious stones and metals and prepaid credit cards.
For the moment the new definition does not include Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, for one simple reason: ‘customs authorities lack the resources to monitor them.’
Most importantly, the draft law will enable authorities to impound ‘cash’ below the traditional 10,000 threshold, if criminal activity is suspected. The new rules would repeal the First Cash Control Regulation (CCR) from 2005, which requires individuals to declare sums over 10,000 when leaving or entering the EU.
The draft law still needs to be approved by the European Parliament. Then the legislation needs to be negotiated with EU governments. If the law is passed, anyone acting suspiciously carrying any amount of cash, whether in notes, precious stones, precious metals or prepaid credit cards, could face having their ‘money’ impounded.
This post was published at Wolf Street on Dec 10, 2017.