[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14

(14) Directive (EU) 2015/849 set out to mitigate the money laundering and terrorist financing risks posed by large cash payments by including persons trading in goods among obliged entities when they make or receive payments in cash above EUR 10 000, whilst allowing Member States to introduce stricter measures. Such approach has shown to be ineffective in light of the poor understanding and application of AML/CFT requirements, lack of supervision and limited number of suspicious transactions reported to the FIU. In order to adequately mitigate risks deriving from the misuse of large cash sums, a Union-wide limit to large cash transactions above EUR 103 000 should be laid down. As a consequence, persons trading in goods should no longer be subject to AML/CFT obligations.

2022/07/04
Committee: ECON LIBE

Caroline NAGTEGAAL, Esther DE LANGE, Jeroen LENAERS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 33 a (new)

(33a) The use of electronic money products is increasingly considered to be a substitute for bank accounts which, in addition to the measures laid down in Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a, justifies subjecting those products to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations. However, in certain proven low-risk circumstances and under strict risk- mitigating conditions, Member States should be allowed to exempt electronic money products from certain customer due diligence measures, such as the identification and verification of the customer and of the beneficial owner, but not from the monitoring of transactions or of business relationships. The risk- mitigating conditions should include a requirement that exempt electronic money products be used exclusively for purchasing goods or services and that the amount stored electronically be low enough to preclude circumvention of the AML/CFT rules. Such an exemption should be without prejudice to the discretion given to Member States to allow obliged entities to apply simplified customer due diligence measures to other electronic money products posing lower risks. _________________ 1a Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions amending Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC (OJ L 267, 10.10.2009, p. 7).

2022/07/04
Committee: ECON LIBE

Esther DE LANGE, Jeroen LENAERS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 94

(94) The use of large cash payments is highly vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing; this has not been sufficiently mitigated by the requirement for traders in goods to be subject to anti- money laundering rules when making or receiving cash payments of EUR 10 000 or more. At the same time, differences in approaches among Member States have undermined the level playing field within the internal market to the detriment of businesses located in Member States with stricter controls. It is therefore necessary to introduce a Union-wide limit to large cash payments of EUR 103 000. Member States should be able to adopt lower thresholds and further stricter provisions.

2022/07/04
Committee: ECON LIBE

Caroline NAGTEGAAL, Esther DE LANGE, Jeroen LENAERS

Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 a (new)

Article 15a Exemption from the application of customer due diligence 1. By way of derogation from Article 16(1), first subparagraph, points (a), (b) and (c), and Article 19, and based on an appropriate risk assessment which demonstrates a low risk, obliged entities may decide not to apply certain customer due diligence measures with respect to electronic money where all of the following risk-mitigating conditions are met: (a) the payment instrument used to store the electronic money is not reloadable or has a maximum monthly payment transaction limit of EUR 150 which can be used only in that Member State; (b) the maximum amount stored electronically on the payment instrument does not exceed EUR 150; (c) the payment instrument is used exclusively to purchase goods or services; (d) the payment instrument cannot be funded with anonymous electronic money; (e) the issuer carries out sufficient monitoring of the transactions or business relationship to enable the detection of unusual or suspicious transactions. 2. The derogation provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply in the case of redemption in cash or cash withdrawal of the monetary value of the electronic money where the amount redeemed exceeds EUR 50 or, in the case of remote payment transactions as defined in Article 4, point (6), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a, where the amount paid exceeds EUR 50 per transaction. 3. Credit institutions and financial institutions acting as acquirers shall only accept payments carried out with anonymous prepaid cards issued in third countries where such cards meet requirements equivalent to those set out in paragraphs 1 and 2. 4. Member States may decide not to accept on their territory payments carried out by using anonymous prepaid cards. _________________ 1a Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).