By  Trend

Iran’s Parliament has begun holding open-floor debates on the country’s accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The parliament’s open session debating the Financial Action Task Force kicked off Sunday morning with 263 lawmakers in attendance, Tasnim news agency reported.

To fulfill FATF requirements, Rouhani’s administration has proposed four bills to the parliament for approval, two of which are still undecided, including the Palermo Convention. They have been referred to the Expediency Council for final approval.

Iran recently approved anti-money laundering (AML), which was a domestically-developed bill, and today will decide either to join combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) standards set by the FATF for years.

On June 30, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Iran had until October to complete reforms that would “bring it into line with global norms or face consequences” that could further deter investors from the country.

“The FATF is disappointed with Iran’s failure to implement its action plan to address its significant AML/CFT deficiencies,” the organization said at the time.

“The FATF urgently expects Iran to proceed swiftly in the reform path to ensure that it addresses all of the remaining items in its action plan ... we expect Iran to enact amendments to its AML and CFT laws ... in full compliance with the FATF standards by October 2018, otherwise, the FATF will decide upon appropriate and necessary actions at that time.”

Until Iran carries out measures to address deficiencies, FATF said it would remain concerned and “urges all jurisdictions to continue to advise their financial institutions to apply enhanced due diligence to business relationships and transactions with natural and legal persons from Iran.”