Search Legislation

Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (Text with EEA relevance)

 Help about what version

What Version

 Help about opening options

Opening OptionsExpand opening options

 Help about UK-EU Regulation

Legislation originating from the EU

When the UK left the EU, legislation.gov.uk published EU legislation that had been published by the EU up to IP completion day (31 December 2020 11.00 p.m.). On legislation.gov.uk, these items of legislation are kept up-to-date with any amendments made by the UK since then.

Status:

This is the original version (as it was originally adopted).

Article 2

1.This Directive shall apply to the following obliged entities:

(1)

credit institutions;

(2)

financial institutions;

(3)

the following natural or legal persons acting in the exercise of their professional activities:

(a)

auditors, external accountants and tax advisors;

(b)

notaries and other independent legal professionals, where they participate, whether by acting on behalf of and for their client in any financial or real estate transaction, or by assisting in the planning or carrying out of transactions for their client concerning the:

(i)

buying and selling of real property or business entities;

(ii)

managing of client money, securities or other assets;

(iii)

opening or management of bank, savings or securities accounts;

(iv)

organisation of contributions necessary for the creation, operation or management of companies;

(v)

creation, operation or management of trusts, companies, foundations, or similar structures;

(c)

trust or company service providers not already covered under point (a) or (b);

(d)

estate agents;

(e)

other persons trading in goods to the extent that payments are made or received in cash in an amount of EUR 10 000 or more, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several operations which appear to be linked;

(f)

providers of gambling services.

2.With the exception of casinos, and following an appropriate risk assessment, Member States may decide to exempt, in full or in part, providers of certain gambling services from national provisions transposing this Directive on the basis of the proven low risk posed by the nature and, where appropriate, the scale of operations of such services.

Among the factors considered in their risk assessments, Member States shall assess the degree of vulnerability of the applicable transactions, including with respect to the payment methods used.

In their risk assessments, Member States shall indicate how they have taken into account any relevant findings in the reports issued by the Commission pursuant to Article 6.

Any decision taken by a Member State pursuant to the first subparagraph shall be notified to the Commission, together with a justification based on the specific risk assessment. The Commission shall communicate that decision to the other Member States.

3.Member States may decide that persons that engage in a financial activity on an occasional or very limited basis where there is little risk of money laundering or terrorist financing do not fall within the scope of this Directive, provided that all of the following criteria are met:

(a)the financial activity is limited in absolute terms;

(b)the financial activity is limited on a transaction basis;

(c)the financial activity is not the main activity of such persons;

(d)the financial activity is ancillary and directly related to the main activity of such persons;

(e)the main activity of such persons is not an activity referred to in points (a) to (d) or point (f) of paragraph 1(3);

(f)the financial activity is provided only to the customers of the main activity of such persons and is not generally offered to the public.

The first subparagraph shall not apply to persons engaged in the activity of money remittance as defined in point (13) of Article 4 of Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(1).

4.For the purposes of point (a) of paragraph 3, Member States shall require that the total turnover of the financial activity does not exceed a threshold which must be sufficiently low. That threshold shall be established at national level, depending on the type of financial activity.

5.For the purposes of point (b) of paragraph 3, Member States shall apply a maximum threshold per customer and per single transaction, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several operations which appear to be linked. That maximum threshold shall be established at national level, depending on the type of financial activity. It shall be sufficiently low in order to ensure that the types of transactions in question are an impractical and inefficient method for money laundering or terrorist financing, and shall not exceed EUR 1 000.

6.For the purposes of point (c) of paragraph 3, Member States shall require that the turnover of the financial activity does not exceed 5 % of the total turnover of the natural or legal person concerned.

7.In assessing the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing for the purposes of this Article, Member States shall pay particular attention to any financial activity which is considered to be particularly likely, by its nature, to be used or abused for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.

8.Decisions taken by Member States pursuant to paragraph 3 shall state the reasons on which they are based. Member States may decide to withdraw such decisions where circumstances change. They shall notify such decisions to the Commission. The Commission shall communicate such decisions to the other Member States.

9.Member States shall establish risk-based monitoring activities or take other adequate measures to ensure that the exemption granted by decisions pursuant to this Article is not abused.

(1)

Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p. 1).

Back to top

Options/Help