The ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DIVISION, INVESTIGATION BUREAU,
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) and the OFFICE
FOR PREVENTION OF LAUNDERING OF PROCEEDS DERIVED FROM CRIMINAL
ACTIVITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA, hereinafter referred to as
"the Authorities", desire, in a spirit of cooperation and mutual
interest and within the framework of each Authority ’ s
national legislations, 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, according to the legislations and
international obligations applicable in their country
territory, shall exchange the collected, processed, and
analyzed information concerning transactions with money and
other property, which can be related to money laundering,
associated predicate offences, and terrorism financing as
well as information about natural and legal persons involved
in such transactions.
2. The information exchanged between the Authorities can be used
for pretrial and judicial intelligence purposes only within
the cases related to money laundering, associated predicate
offences, and terrorism financing.
3. 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; this includes in particular the
information that the Authorities have the power to obtain
for their domestic analysis; and
b. any other information which the Authorities have the power
to obtain or access, directly or indirectly, at the
domestic level.
4. 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. Financial, administrative, and law enforcement
information.
5. The Authorities agree on the disclosure of elements of the
requests when it is needed to perform the necessary enquiries
into external sources.
6. The requested Authority may refuse to provide the requested
information in whole or in part if the performance of it
could infringe human rights, pose threat to the sovereignty,
country security and public order, contradict the
legislations or international obligations in force in the
territory of the country of the requested Authority, as well
as if according to the facts stated in the request a case has
been brought before the court in the country of the requested
Authority. The requested Authority shall inform in writing
the requesting Authority of the refusal to fulfil the request
stating the reasons thereof. If an Authority decides not to
respond to a request for information from the other
Authority, the requested Authority will notify the requesting
Authority that it does not intend to respond.
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. The Authorities will freely exchange spontaneously or upon
request in written form the widest range of information
available or obtainable. A request shall contain the
following items:
a. name of the requesting Authority;
b. name of the requested Authority;
c. relevant factual and legal information;
d. concise exposition of the investigation carried out;
e. the potential link with the country of the requested
Authority;
f. grounds of the request according to this Memorandum of
Understanding (hereinafter referred to as “ MOU ” )(if
the requesting Authority considers the request urgent, the
requesting Authority must motivate the necessity of such
urgency);
g. names of the parties on behalf of whom the request is
sent;
h. description of contents of the requested information;
i. purpose of the use of the received information;
j. other data necessary for fulfilling of the request.
For the proper execution of the request, the requested
Authority may apply that any additional information be
provided, if necessary.
9. 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.
10. The Authorities will respond to 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.
11. The information or document obtained from the respective
Authority shall not be used or disseminated to the third
parties, including other institutions or agencies of the
Authority for purposes other than those for which it was
provided, nor be used for investigative, judicial, or
procedural purposes without the prior consent of the
requested Authority. Any dissemination of the information to
other authorities or any use of this information beyond
those originally approved will be subject to prior
authorization by the requested counterpart. The requesting
Authority shall not make use of the information received
from the requested Authority as evidence in any proceedings
including in administrative, prosecutorial, or judicial
proceedings and such information is intended to be used for
intelligence purposes only.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. The information acquired in application of this 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.
16. The Authorities, guided by the legislations and
international obligations of their countries shall take the
necessary administrative and technical measures to protect
the information acquired under this MOU from accidental or
illegal destruction, distortion, dissemination, and any
other unlawful use. The information acquired under this MOU
shall be stored no longer than it is needed in accordance
with the purposes for which it was disclosed. The
information shall be destroyed in compliance with the legal
acts of each of the Authorities ’ countries.
17. 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, FIU.NET or other
recognized networks that ensure levels of security,
reliability and effectiveness at least equivalent to those
of the Egmont Secure Web.
18. 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.
19. The rights and obligations of the Authorities determined by
other international treaties where their countries
participate should not be affected by the statements of this
MOU.
20. 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.
21. Communication between the Authorities shall take place in
English.
22. This MOU will become effective upon the date of signature by
the Authorities.
23. This MOU may be amended at any time by mutual consent in
writing.
24. This MOU is revocable at any time. The termination will
become effective as from the reception of the written
notification from the other Authority.The protection
requirements established in Section 11 for the information
received under this MOU shall remain in force even after the
termination of this MOU.

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

Done 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 OFFICE FOR PREVENTION
LAUNDERING DIVISION, OF LAUNDERING OF PROCEEDS
INVESTIGATION BUREAU, DERIVED FROM CRIMINAL
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, ACTIVITY OF THE
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN)
REPUBLIC OF LATIVA
__________________ __________________
Hung-Chin Lee Viesturs Burkans
Director Head

Date : 2017. 9. 13 Date : 2. 10. 2017
Place : Taipei Place : Riga