Some EU countries – as well as the UK – had already made the payment of over €10,000 in cash subject to declaration to the authorities, although the act of paying it in cash was legal.
For example, anything above €1,000 in France needed to be declared, while it was €3,000 in Belgium and € 15,000 in Poland. Others, such as Austria and Germany, had – until now – no limits on cash payments.
It was found by a study by Ecorys that a universal legal limit was needed, as otherwise illegal activity could just cross borders to unaffected countries, before reverting back into the same place it had come from.
