The European Parliament and the Council have announced that they have reached an agreement on parts of the EU anti-money laundering package. The agreement includes much of the proposed Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (“AMLR”) and the new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (“AMLD”).
According to the proposals for a new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation previously presented separately by the Commission, the Parliament and the Council, it was proposed that the customer due diligence requirements and other requirements for individual operators in the current Anti-Money Laundering Directive be transferred to the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation. The agreement that has now been presented proposes precisely that, along with several instances of tightening of the current rules regarding cash payments and stricter customer due diligence measures, for example. It is also proposed that more operators than at present be included in the requirements to carry out customer due diligence measures. Examples of additional operators to be covered by the requirements include companies trading in luxury goods such as watches, precious stones, jewellery, luxury cars, etc. It is also proposed that football clubs and football agents, as well as much of the crypto-asset sector, should be covered by the rules.
The proposed Anti-Money Laundering Directive also includes new rules on a central register of beneficial owners. It is also proposed that the competent authorities’ access to land registers and the areas of responsibility and powers of the national financial police be regulated in more detail.
The draft texts of the regulation and directive now need to be approved by the Member States’ deputy permanent representatives to Parliament before they can be finally adopted by the Parliament and the Council.
