The European Union has removed Bosnia and Herzegovina from the list of high-risk countries with weak anti-terrorism financing regimes and the decision enters into force on Thursday, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Justice Ministry said.

A press release by the European Commission explains that the decision was adopted on May 7 but formally enters into force as of today following a review of the list of high-risk countries.

It was estimated that Bosnia and Herzegovina met the prerequisites to be treated as a country without any strategic deficiencies that pose a significant threat to the EU's financial system.

With the reviewed list the European Commission took into account the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international standard-setter in this field, the EC said in its press release.

Bosnia's justice ministry said the European Commission has recognised the country's progress and measures taken in the past period and concluded that currently, the country has no “strategic deficiencies” in its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regimes.

The Commission has, however, announced that it will continue to monitor the efficiency of the implementation of measures.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was obliged to make changes to its criminal law and legislation related to associations and foundations in order to ensure that they were not used as a cover-up for the financing of illegal activities as was the case before.