45 Amendments of Karolin BRAUNSBERGER-REINHOLD related to 2021/0250(COD)
Amendment 239 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) The Member States remain the best placed to identify, assess, understand and decide how to mitigate risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as how to fight money laundering and terrorism financing, affecting them directly. Therefore, each Member State should take the appropriate steps in an effort to properly identity, assess and understand its money laundering and terrorist financing risks, as well as risks of non-implementation and evasion of targeted financial sanctions and to define a coherent national strategy to put in place actions to mitigate those risks. Such national risk assessment should be updated regularly and should include a description of the institutional structure and broad procedures of the Member State's AML/CFT regime, as well as the allocated human and financial resources to the extent that this information is available.
Amendment 255 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) The accuracy of data included in the beneficial ownership registers is fundamental for all of the relevant authorities and other persons allowed access to that data, and to make valid, lawful decisions based on that data. Therefore, Member States should ensure that, at the time of submission of the beneficial ownership information and on a regular basis thereafter, that that information is adequate, accurate and up to date. Member States should ensure that entities in charge of central registers have at their disposal state-of-the-art technology to carry out automated verifications in a manner that safeguards fundamental rights and avoids discriminatory outcomes. In addition, where sufficient reasons arise, after careful analysis by the registrars, to doubt the accuracy of the beneficial ownership information held by the registers, legal entities and legal arrangements should be required to provide additional information on a risk-sensitive basis. In addition, it is important that Member States entrust the entity in charge of managing the registers with sufficient powers to verify beneficial ownership and the veracity of information provided to it, and to report any suspicion to their FIU. Such powers should extend to the conduct of inspections at the premises of the legal entities and, where applicable, to obliged entities, in accordance with national law, with particular regard being had to provisions governing protection of confidentiality. Similarly, such powers should extend to representatives of foreign legal persons and foreign legal arrangements in the Union, where there are such representatives.
Amendment 264 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22 a (new)
Recital 22 a (new)
(22a) Where a verification carried out at the time of submission of the beneficial ownership information leads to the conclusion that this information contains inconsistencies or errors or otherwise fails to meet the necessary requirements, Member States shall ensure that the body responsible for the registry is able to refuse the certificate of registration. However, inconsistencies or errors shall not affect the effectiveness of certain legal acts or transactions.
Amendment 296 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) Real estate is an attractive commodity for criminals to launder the proceeds of their illicit activities, as it allows obscuring the true source of the funds and the identity of the beneficial owner. Proper and timely identification of natural or legal person owning real estate by FIUs and other competent authorities is important both for detecting money laundering schemes as well as for freezing and confiscation of assets. It is therefore important that Member States provide FIUs and competent authorities with access to information which allows the identification in a timely manner of natural or legal person owning real estate and information relevant for the identification of the risk and suspicion of the transaction. Member States shall decide whether to provide the information through a centralised or decentralised access point and whether to link the information via a system to be operated by the Commission.
Amendment 302 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) All Member States have, or should, set up operationally independent and autonomous FIUs to collect and analyse the information which they receive with the aim of establishing links between suspicious transactions and underlying criminal activity in order to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FIU should be the single central national unit responsible for the receipt and analysis of suspicious transaction reports, reports on cross-border physical movements of cash and on payments in cash above a certain threshold as well as other information relevant to money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing submitted by obliged entities., in compliance with existing legal provisions, such as Directive (EU) 2019/1153 laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences, and repealing Council Decision 2000/642/JHA, Operational independence and autonomy of the FIU should be ensured by granting the FIU the authority and capacity to carry out its functions freely, including the ability to take autonomous decisions as regards analysis, requests and dissemination of specific information. In all cases, the FIU should have the independent right to forward or disseminate information to competent authorities. The FIU should be provided with adequate financial, human and technical resources, in a manner that secures its autonomy and independence and enables it to exercise its mandate effectively. The FIU should be able to obtain and deploy the resources needed to carry out its functions, on an individual or routine basis, free from any undue political, government or industry influence or interference, which might compromise its operational independence.
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 60
Recital 60
(60) Supervisors should adopt a risk- based approach to their work, which should enable them to focus their resources where the risks are the highest, whilst ensuring that no sector or entity is left exposed to criminal attempts to launder money or finance terrorism. AMLA should play a leading role in fostering a common understanding of risks, and should therefore be entrusted with developing the benchmarks and a methodology for assessing and classifying the inherent and residual risk profile of obliged entities, as well as the frequency at which such risk profile should be reviewed. In that regard, supervisors and self-regulatory bodies should adopt an annual activity report and make a summary thereof available to AMLA.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 73
Recital 73
(73) Publication of an administrative sanction or measure for breach of Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation] can have a strong dissuasive effect against repetition of such breach. It also informs other entities of the money laundering and financing of terrorism risks associated with the sanctioned obliged entity before entering into a business relationship and assists supervisors in other Member States in relation to the risks associated with an obliged entity when it operates in their Member State on a cross- border basis. For those reasons, the requirement to publish decisions on sanctions against which there is no appeal can be lodged should be confirmed. However, any such publication should be proportionate and, in the taking of a decision whether to publish an administrative sanction or measure, supervisors should take into account the gravity of the breach and the dissuasive effect that the publication is likely to achieve.
Amendment 332 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 76
Recital 76
(76) In order to facilitate and promote effective cooperation, and in particular the exchange of information, Member States should be required to communicate to the Commission and AMLA the list of their competent authorities and relevant contact details. This list should take into account existing expertise and available networks, such as the expertise gained by Member States' competent authorities and third countries through Europol, in their fight against money laundering/terrorist financing.
Amendment 339 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 91
Recital 91
(91) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in order to lay down a methodology for the collection of statistics, establish the format for the submission of beneficial ownership information, define the technical conditions for the interconnection of beneficial ownership registers and of bank account registers and data retrieval mechanisms as well as to adopt implementing technical standards specifying the format to be used for the exchange of the information among FIUs of the Member Stat, define the technical conditions for the connection of the Member States’ mechanisms to the single access point on land and real estate, to specify the criteria and format to be used by FIUs for sharing information on suspended or prohibited transactions and on suspended accounts, to adopt implementing technical standards specifying the format to be used for the exchange of the information among FIUs of the Member States as well as to adopt implementing technical standards specifying a common template for the cooperation agreements between financial supervisors and their counterparts in third countries. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council39. _________________ 39 Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).
Amendment 364 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 2 a (new)
(2a) Member States shall ensure that the procedures for licensing currency exchange and cheque cashing offices and trusts or company service providers and the requirements under national law for entering regulated professions that are obliged entities as referred to in Article 3 point 3 of [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation - COM/2021/420 final] require applicants to demonstrate a good understanding of the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in their sector of activity. Member States shall ensure that applicants have access to anti-money laundering and counter- terrorist financing training provided in accordance with uniform and high standards either by supervisory authorities, certified service providers or obliged entities that have the proven knowledge and expertise necessary to carry out their tasks.
Amendment 378 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 4 a (new)
(4a) Member States shall ensure that supervisors have the power to request the suspension of any person from the management role of an obliged entity as referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 or, in the case where no management role exists in obliged entities, the suspension of their licence to exercise the activity, where is established that money laundering or terrorist financing has been repeatedly committed in connection with that obliged person and that, in so doing, the obligations under the Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti- Money Laundering Regulation] have been repeatedly and seriously infringed.
Amendment 383 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 6 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 6 a (new)
(6a) By [2 years after the date of transposition of this Directive], AMLA shall issue guidelines on the elements to be taken into account by supervisors when assessing whether: (a) the senior managers and the beneficial owners of obliged entities referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 act with honesty and integrity; (b) the senior management of obliged entities referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 are of good repute and possess knowledge and expertise necessary to carry out their functions. (c) serious breaches of the obligations under Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation] have been committed. When drawing up the guidelines referred to in the first subparagraph of this Article, AMLA shall take into account the specificities of each sector in which the obliged entities operate and of previous guidelines issued jointly by the European Securities and Market Authority and the European Banking Authority on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders under Directive 2013/36/EU and Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Amendment 417 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 2
Article 8 – paragraph 2
2. Each Member State shall designate an authority or establish a mechanism to coordinate the national response to the risks referred to in paragraph 1. The identity of that authority or the description of the mechanism shall be notified to the Commission, AMLA, Europol, and other Member States.
Amendment 433 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
In the national risk assessment, Member States shall describe the institutional structure and broad procedures of their AML/CFT regime, including, inter alia, the FIU, tax authorities and prosecutors, level of European and international cooperation with regard to money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the allocated human and financial resources to the extent that this information is available.
Amendment 450 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
(da) statistical data referred to in Article 19 (3) of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of 20 June 2019 laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences and repealing Council Decision 2000/642/JHA;
Amendment 492 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 5 – introductory part
Article 10 – paragraph 5 – introductory part
(5) Member States shall requirebe responsible for ensuring that the beneficial ownership information held in the central registers is adequate, accurate and up-to-date. For that purpose, Member State shall apply at least the following requirements:
Amendment 498 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 5 – point a a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 5 – point a a (new)
(aa) it shall be verified at the time of transmission and periodically thereafter that such information is adequate, accurate and up-to-date.
Amendment 513 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 6
Article 10 – paragraph 6
(6) Member States shall require that the reporting of discrepancies referred to in paragraph 5 takes place within 1428 calendar days after detecting the discrepancy. In cases of lower risk to which measures under Section 3 of Chapter III of Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation] apply, Member States may allow obliged entities to request the customer to rectify discrepancies of a technical nature that do not hinder the identification of the beneficial owner(s) directly with the entity in charge of the central registers.
Amendment 514 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 7
Article 10 – paragraph 7
(7) Member States shall ensure that the entity in charge of the central registers takes appropriate actions to cease the discrepancies, including amending the information included in the central registers where the entity is able to identify and verify the beneficial ownership information. A specific mention of the fact that there are discrepancies reported shall be included in the central registers and visible at least to competent authorities and obliged entitieis monitored. Obliged entities must be able to rely on the information in the central registers.
Amendment 528 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 8 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 8 a (new)
(8a) Where a verification as referred to in paragraph 8a is carried out when the beneficial ownership information is submitted, and it leads an entity in charge of a central register to conclude that there are inconsistencies or errors in that information, or where that information otherwise fails to fulfil the requirements laid down in paragraph 5, Member States shall ensure that such entity is able to withhold the certification of registration.
Amendment 555 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 3
Article 11 – paragraph 3
(3) Member States shall ensure that, when taking customer due diligence measures in accordance with Chapter III of Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation], obliged entities have timely, representatives and outsourcing service providers to which obliged entities have contractually outsourced their due diligence obligations in accordance with [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation], have immediate and free of charge access to the information held in the interconnected central registers referred to in Article 10.
Amendment 595 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 3 – point d a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 3 – point d a (new)
Amendment 603 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 7 – introductory part
Article 14 – paragraph 7 – introductory part
7. National FIUs and competent authorities designated under Directive (EU) 2019/1153 [please insert reference - proposal for a directive amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 with regard to the access of competent authorities to centralized bank accounts registers through a single access point] shall be granted immediate and unfiltered access to the information on payment and bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes in other Member States available through the single access point interconnecting the centralised automated mechanisms. Member States shall cooperate among themselves and with the Commission in order to implement this paragraph.
Amendment 605 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
Article 14 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
Member States shall ensure that the staff of the national FIUs and competent authorities, entitled to access through the single access point, maintain high professional standards of confidentiality and data protection, are of high integrity and are appropriately skilled.
Amendment 607 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 7 a (new)
Article 14 – paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. The European Commission shall ensure that the staff of the European competent authorities having access through the single access point is subjected to high professional standards in terms of confidentiality and data protection, and that the staff is of high integrity and possesses the appropriate skills.
Amendment 627 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
(1) Member States shall provide competent authorities with access to information which allows the identification in a timely manner of any natural or legal person owning real estate, including through registers or electronic data retrieval systems where such registers or systems are available. Member States shall decide whether to provide the information through a centralised or decentralised system and whether to link the information via a system to be operated by the Commission. Competent authorities shall also have access to information allowing the identification and analysis of transactions involving real estate, including their economic value and details of the natural or legal persons involved in those transactions including, where available, whether the natural or legal person owns, sells or acquires real estate on behalf of a legal arrangement.
Amendment 633 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
FIUs, national asset recovery authorities, and other national competent authorities involved in the framework of the fight against money laundering/terrorist financing and fight against organised crime shall be granted direct and immediate access to the information referred to in the first subparagraph.
Amendment 637 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 16 – paragraph 2 a (new)
(2a) The Member States shall be able to interconnect the mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 via the real estate data (RED) single access point to be developed and operated by the Commission by [4 years after the date of entry into force of this Directive]. The Commission is empowered to adopt, by means of implementing acts, the technical specifications and procedures for the connection of the Member States’ mechanisms to the single access point. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 54(2).
Amendment 657 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Article 17 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
By [1 year after the date of transposition of this Directive], AMLA shall issue guidelines addressed to FIUs on the nature, features and objectives of operational and of strategic analysis, and, in particular, on the need to further provide these analyses to the investigation and prosecution authorities fighting against money laundering, related predicate offences, terrorist financing and organised crime.
Amendment 660 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
Article 17 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. Each FIU shall be operationally independent and autonomous, which means that it shall have the authority and capacity to carry out its functions freely, including the ability to take autonomous decisions to analyse, request and disseminate specific information in compliance with existing EU data protection rules. It shall be free from any undue political, government or industry influence or interference.
Amendment 667 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 7
Article 17 – paragraph 7
7. Each Member States shall ensure that its FIU is able to make arrangements or engage independently with other domestic competent authorities and EU bodies involved in the framework of combating money laundering, related predicate offences, terrorist financing and the fight against organised crime pursuant to Article 45 on the exchange of information.
Amendment 694 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point b – point ii
(ii) national real estate registers or electronic data retrieval systems and land and cadastral registers, as well as the data from the single access point referred to in Article 16;
Amendment 698 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – introductory part
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – introductory part
(c) direct or indirect access tomay, subject to national procedural guarantees, receive from competent authorities the following law enforcement information:
Amendment 705 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – point i
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – point i
(i) any type of information or data case by case which is already held by competent authorities in the context of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting criminal offences, whenever information is needed to prevent, detect and combat money laundering, related predicate offences, and terrorist financing;
Amendment 708 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point c – point ii
(ii) any type ofrelevant information or data which is held by public authorities or by private entities in the context of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting criminal offences and which is available to competent authorities without the taking of coercive measures under national law.
Amendment 711 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Where there are objective grounds to believe that the provision of such information would have an adverse effect on ongoing investigations or analyses, or, in exceptional circumstances, where the disclosure would be manifestly disproportionate to the legitimate interests of a natural or legal person for which it has been requested or inappropriate, the law enforcement authority may, with appropriate justification, deny access to information to the FIU.
Amendment 735 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 20 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
(1) Member States shall ensure that FIUs are empowered to take urgent action, directly or indirectly, where there is a suspicion that a transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, to suspend or withhold consent to a transaction that is proceeding. Such suspension shall be imposed on the obliged entity within 48 hours of receiving the suspicious transaction report in order to analyse the transaction, confirm the suspicion and disseminate the results of the analysis to the competent authorities. Member States shall ensure that subject to national procedural safeguards, the transaction is suspended for a period of a maximum of 157 calendar days from the day of the imposition of such suspension to the obliged entity.
Amendment 745 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 20 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Such suspension shall be imposed on the obliged entity within 48 hours of receiving the suspicious transaction report and immediately notified to the competent judicial authority. Member States shall ensure that the use of that bank or payment account is suspended for a period of a maximum of 53 days from the day of the imposition of the suspension. Member States shall ensure that any extension of such suspension shall be authorized by the competent judicial authority.
Amendment 749 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 20 – paragraph 3 a (new)
(3a) Obliged entities shall provide documents to their respective national FIUs, which shall then forward the requested information to the requesting FIU.
Amendment 765 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
(2) Member States shall ensure that FIUs provide obliged entities with feedback on theevery reports of suspected money laundering or terrorist financing. Such feedback shall cover at least the quality of the information provided, the timeliness of reporting, the description of the suspicion and the documentation provided at submission stage.
Amendment 786 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 23 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 23 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Following a peer review in accordance with Article 17 (7a), the AMLA may temporarily restrict access to FIU.net for a specific FIU where the peer review report concludes that the requirements relating to the independence, integrity, professionalism, confidentiality or security of the FIU are not met. , as referred to in Article 17. The decision to impose this measure is taken by the AMLA General Board in the FIU's composition by unanimity, as the affected FIU does not vote.
Amendment 829 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 31 – paragraph 6 a (new)
Article 31 – paragraph 6 a (new)
(6a) Member States shall ensure that supervisors and self-regulatory bodies produce a detailed annual activity report and that a summary of that report is made available to the AMLA. The summary of the report referred to in the first subparagraph shall present: (a) the tasks of the supervisors; (b)an overview of its supervisory activities; (c) the number of on-site and off-site supervisory actions; and (d) the number of breaches identified on the basis of supervisory actions and sanctions or administrative measures applied by supervisory authorities and self-regulatory bodies pursuant to Section 4 of Chapter IV. The annual activity report referred to in the first subparagraph shall be transmitted to the designated authority or mechanism referred to in Article 8(2), which shall provide feedback and propose possible improvements, and shall be able to make recommendations to change the allocation of supervisory responsibilities and the arrangements for carrying out supervisory tasks.
Amendment 831 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 32 – paragraph 1
Article 32 – paragraph 1
(1) Member States shall ensure that if, in the course of the checks carried out on the obliged entities, or in any other way, supervisors discover facts that could be related to money laundering or to terrorist financing, they shall promptly inform the FIU. supervisory authorities shall be exempted from the requirements set out in this paragraph where the relevant information has been obtained from the supervised obliged entity in the cases referred to in Article 51(2) of [the Anti- Money Laundering Regulation].
Amendment 913 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 41 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 41 – paragraph 1 – point c
Amendment 922 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 42 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 42 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Member States shall ensure that a decision imposing an administrative sanction or measure for breach of Regulation [please insert reference – proposal for Anti-Money Laundering Regulation - COM/2021/420 final] against which there is no appeal shall be published by the supervisors on their official website immediately after the person sanctioned is informed of that decision and all administrative internal and judicial review procedures have been exhausted. The publication shall include at least information on the type and nature of the breach and the identity of the persons responsible. Member States shall not be obliged to apply this subparagraph to decisions imposing measures that are of an investigatory nature.