The ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DIVISION, INVESTIGATION BUREAU,
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) and The
FINANCIAL INFORMATION AUTHORITY (“ AUTORITA ’ DI INFORMAZIONE
FINANZIARIA ” - “ AIF ” )OF THE HOLY SEE, hereinafter
referred to as "the Authorities", desire, in a spirit of
cooperation and mutual interest, to facilitate the analysis
concerning cases of suspected money laundering, associated
predicate offences and terrorism financing, with a view to
disseminating information which may ultimately result in
investigations and prosecutions by competent authorities in
their respective Countries.

To that end, having regard to the relevant documents of the
Egmont Group and, particularly, the “ Charter ” and the “
Principles for Information Exchange between Financial
Intelligence Units ”, the Authorities have reached the
following understanding.

1. The Authorities will cooperate to assemble, develop and
analyse information relevant to suspected money laundering,
associated predicate offences and terrorism financing.
2. The Authorities will freely exchange spontaneously or upon
request the widest range of information available or
obtainable, based on reciprocity.
3. The Authorities may decide to exchange information indirectly
with non-counterparts in response to requests from competent
authorities. The Authorities shall ensure that the competent
authority requesting the information indirectly always makes
it clear who they are requesting the information for, and for
what purpose.
4. Upon request and whenever possible, the Authorities shall
provide feedback to their foreign counterparts on the use of
the information provided, as well as on the outcome of the
analysis conducted, based on the information provided.
5. The Authorities will conduct queries on behalf of the
requesting counterpart and provide all information that they
would be able to obtain if such queries were carried out
domestically. In particular, the Authorities will provide:
a. all information required to be accessible or obtainable
directly or indirectly by the Authority under the FATF
Recommendations, in particular under Recommendation 29;
this includes in particular the information that the
Authorities have the power to obtain for their domestic
analysis;
b. any other information which the Authorities have the power
to obtain or access, directly or indirectly, at the
domestic level, subject to the principle of reciprocity.
6. In particular, the Authorities will provide the following
types of information, based on their respective sources and
powers:
a. Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) / Suspicious
Activity Reports (SARs);
b. Threshold-Based Disclosures; and
c. others.
7. If an Authority is subject to legal process or proceedings
that would require the disclosure of information it has
received from the other Authority, the Authority subject to
such process or proceedings will immediately notify and seek
the express consent of the other Authority to disclose the
information, and if consent has not been provided, reasonable
efforts will be taken to ensure that the information will not
be disseminated to any third party or that appropriate
limitations are placed upon the disclosure.
8. To enable a timely and efficient execution of the requests,
the Authorities will make their best efforts to provide, in
the requests, relevant factual and legal information,
including the description of the case being analysed and the
potential link with the country of the requested Authority.
They will also indicate any need for urgency.
9. The Authorities will indicate the reasons for the requests,
the parties on behalf of whom those are sent and, to the
extent possible, the purpose for which the information will
be used.
10. The Authorities will not refuse to provide assistance on the
grounds that:
a. the request is also considered to involve fiscal matters;
b. laws require financial institutions or designated
non-financial businesses and professions (except where
the relevant information that is sought is held under
circumstances where legal privilege or legal professional
secrecy applies) to maintain secrecy or confidentiality;
c. there is an inquiry, investigation or proceeding underway
in the Country of the requested Authority, unless the
assistance would impede that inquiry, investigation or
proceeding;
d. the nature or status (civil, administrative, law
enforcement etc.) of the requesting Authority is
different to the requested Authority;
e. the case to which the request refers to is not considered
relevant or suspicious or the specific type of the
predicate offence is not known in the analytical phase.
11. The Authorities will acknowledge receipt of the requests and
will respond to such requests in a timely manner. The
Authorities will further use their best efforts to provide
interim or partial responses in a timely manner in such
cases where there may be a delay in providing a full
response.
12. Exchanged information shall be used only for the purpose for
which the information was sought or provided. Any
dissemination of the information to competent authorities or
third parties, or any use of this information for
administrative, investigative, prosecutorial or judicial
purposes, beyond those originally approved, shall be subject
to prior authorization by the requested Authority.
13. The prior consent for further use or dissemination will be
granted by the Authorities promptly and to the largest
extent possible. Such consent will not be refused unless
this would fall beyond the scope of application of the
providing Authority ’ s AML/CFT provisions, could impair a
criminal investigation, would be clearly disproportionate to
the legitimate interests of a natural or legal person or the
State of the providing Authority or would otherwise not be
in accordance with fundamental principles of its national
law.
14. Any refusal to provide the prior consent will be
appropriately motivated and explained and the Authorities
will explore alternative ways (e.g. through mutual legal
assistance channels) to ensure that the information
exchanged can be used by competent law enforcement agencies
and prosecutors.
15. Upon request and whenever possible, the Authorities will
provide feedback to the other Authority on the use of the
information provided, as well as on the outcome of the
analysis conducted, based on the information provided.
16. The information acquired in application of this Memorandum
of Understanding (hereinafter referred to as “ MOU ” )is
confidential. It is subject to official secrecy and is
protected by at least the same confidentiality as provided
by the national legislation of the receiving Authority for
similar information from national sources.
17. Information received, processed, held or disseminated by
requesting Authorities must be securely protected, exchanged
and used only in accordance with agreed procedures, policies
and applicable laws and regulations.
18. The Authorities must, therefore, have rules in place
governing the security and confidentiality of such
information, including procedures for handling, storage,
dissemination and protection of, as well as access to, such
information.
19. The Authorities shall ensure their staff members have the
necessary security clearance levels and understand their
responsibilities in handling and disseminating sensitive and
confidential information.
20. The Authorities shall ensure there is limited access to
their facilities and information, including information
technology systems.
21. Exchanges of information will take place in a secure way and
through reliable channels or mechanisms. To this end, the
Authorities will use the Egmont Secure Web or other
recognized networks that ensure levels of security,
reliability and effectiveness at least equivalent to those
of the Egmont Secure Web.
22. The Authorities will jointly arrange, consistent with the
legislation of their respective countries, for acceptable
procedures of communication and will consult each other with
the purpose of implementing this MOU.
23. In interpreting and implementing this MOU, the Authorities
will ensure consistency with the provisions of the Egmont
Group, particularly with the “ Charter ” and the “
Principles for Information Exchange between Financial
Intelligence Units ”. The Authorities will abide directly
by these provisions for any further issue which is not
covered in this MOU.
24. Communication between the Authorities shall take place in
English.
25. This MOU will become effective upon the date of signature by
the Authorities.
26. This MOU may be amended at any time by mutual consent in
writing.
27. This MOU is revocable at any time. The termination will
become effective as from the reception of the written
notification from the other Authority.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorized by
their respective Authorities, have signed this MOU.

Signed in the Vatican, on this 15 of May, 2017, in duplicate in
the English language, this English version being the agreed
authentic text and each Authority takes the responsibility for
establishing translation in their own language.


FOR THE ANTI-MONEY FOR THE FINANCIAL
LAUNDERING DIVISION, INFORMATION AUTHORITY
INVESTIGATION BUREAU, (“AUTORITA’ DI INFORMAZIONE
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, FINANZIARIA”- “AIF”),
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) HOLY SEE

__________________ __________________
Mr. Hung-Chin Lee Mr. Tommaso Di Ruzza
Director Director