Revision of the Fourth Anti-Money-Laundering Directive [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Angelos Delivorias (3rd edition),

Directive (EU) 2015/849, which forms part of the EU regulatory framework to combat financial crime, has shown gaps in the light of recent terrorist attacks and various tax leaks. In this context, the European Commission proposed to amend the directive, along with Directive 2009/101/EC, to broaden their scope, lower thresholds benefiting from exemptions and provide for the creation of automated centralised mechanisms (e.g. central electronic data retrieval systems). The European Parliament and Council each put forward substantial modifications to the Commission proposal, including not amending the aforementioned Directive 2009/101/EC. Others include: the obligation for Member States to provide data to the Commission on trusts and legal arrangements; specific professional secrecy obligations for staff working, or having worked for, competent authorities supervising credit and financial institutions; cooperation between competent authorities; or the obligation for Member States to provide Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) with access to information – including through registries or central electronic data retrieval systems – which allows the identification of any natural or legal person owning real estate. Parliament voted on the agreement reached in trilogue on 19 April 2018 and Council adopted the act on 14 May 2018. The final act was published in the Official Journal on 19 June 2018.

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• Revision of the Fourth Anti-Money-Laundering Directive