HRIF.EU successfully calls on Dutch Parliament Finance Committee: legislation for the anti-money laundering action plan has been declared controversial.

On September 6th, the permanent Committee on Finance of Dutch Parliament deliberated on the legislative proposals that should be declared controversial or not, considering the upcoming elections. Controversial legislation will not be treated until after the elections. The foundation Human Rights in Finance.EU called on the Committee to declare the proposals or the money laundering action plan controversial, as those … Read more

Human Rights in Finance.EU initiates annulment procedure for the Funds Travel Rule (Reg 2023/1113) with a request for legal assistance

On September 4, 2023, HRIF.EU submitted the documents that mark the beginning of a cancellation procedure at the General Court of the European Union. The foundation aims to cancel a regulation that requires the unnecessary disclosure of private data in payment transactions and future crypto-asset transfers. The first step in this annulment action was made possible with the support of … Read more

Human Rights in Finance.EU calls upon European Banking Authority to do a human rights audit on all their guidelines

Over the past few months, the European Banking Authority has conducted a consultation regarding guidelines related to the assessment of risk factors associated with crypto-assets. What should one pay attention to in such a case? We took a brief look at the consultation and responded that the term “human rights” is not mentioned. Privacy is only discussed in terms of … Read more

HRIF.EU urges Revolut to refrain from applying the Travel rule per September 1, 2023

Today, we were informed that Revolut will be implementing the Travel rule for crypto per September the first. This announcement is thus of great concern to us. We have immediately asked for clarification on the ‘regulations’ that would be applicable. Regulation 2023/1113 is applicable only per 30 december 2024, so we fail to understand why before that date there could … Read more

HRIF.EU Calls on the United Kingdom to Halt the ‘Travel Rule’ for Both Cryptocurrency and Regular Transfers

In the United Kingdom, a highly disputed obligation will come into effect next week for businesses engaged in cryptocurrency-related transfers and trading. They will be required, under the so-called Travel Rule for crypto, to transmit a substantial amount of individual customer data to recipients in various countries, with no discernible added value. To prevent the infringement on these fundamental rights, … Read more

Human Rights in Finance.EU proceeding with foundation and EU annulment proceedings

On August 24th, after a long preparation and run-up Simon Lelieveldt and Jacob Boersma established HRIF.EU as a formal foundation and legal entity under Dutch law. Why? Well, everyone is familiar with the phenomenon in their own environment. Your bank account gets blocked. Afterwards, you’re asked to provide various pieces of information within very short deadlines. If you don’t comply, … Read more

Appeal to Dutch Finance Ministry: please initiate an annulment procedure for the EU Travel Rule regulation to protect the human rights in Europe!

This morning, the founder of the Foundation Human Rights in Finance.EU, Simon Lelieveldt, sent the following message to (the staff of) Minister Kaag of Finance. “With gratitude for the granted additional time to respond, I hereby send my response to the consultation Implementation Act VO (2023/1113) on money transfers and transfers of crypto assets, along with related information.” In this … Read more

Guidance note on overcompliance with sanctions rules and damage to human rights

GENEVA (28 June 2022) – A UN human rights expert today urged banks and other financial institutions around the world to stop over-complying with sanctions regimes imposed by various countries, saying the practice was inadvertently leading to human rights violations. In essence, in their drive to make all financial institutions comply, supervisors around the world are pushing strong on compliance … Read more

Human Rights in Finance.EU supports Privacy Manifest

This week a coalition of Privacy Supporting Parties published the ‘Privacy Manifest‘ to parliament in the Netherlands. The initiators and co-sgners stress the need to fundamentally rethink how we do things in the area of privacy. “The Dutch ambition to become a digital frontrunner must also be translated into legislation and regulations. In addition, it is the task of the … Read more

HRIF.EU calls for a better protection of human rights in everyday finance….

Financial institutions need to respect en promote the proper application of fundamental human rights. We all agree on that. But when we hear financial institutions explaining that they abide with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human rights (UNGPs) in the context of the finance sector, they mostly mean to say they will check whether their financial products do … Read more