Negotiations between the European Parliament and the EU Council on the strengthened ‘AMLR’ anti-money laundering regulation are focusing on the scope of obliged entities and their definitions, according to a document dated Tuesday 17 October and obtained by EUROPE (see EUROPE 13278/25).
For example, the European Parliament wants to ensure that the definition of ‘funds’ in the text is broad in order to comply with the standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and to avoid the risk of different interpretations. A definition of the term ‘sports agent in the football sector’ was also proposed, given that, in its mandate, the European Parliament wanted to add this profession to the scope of application.
For its part, the EU Council wanted to define the term ‘mixed activity holding company’ as being “an undertaking other than a financial holding company or a mixed financial holding company, which is not the subsidiary of another undertaking, the subsidiaries of which include at least one obliged entity”. For insurance, it wanted to define the term ‘intermediary’ in order to exclude from the scope of application “an insurance intermediary that does not collect premiums or amounts intended for the customer and which acts under the responsibility of one or more insurance undertakings or intermediaries for the products which concern them respectively”. The European Commission is due to draft a recital for the exemption of certain intermediaries, as requested by the EU Council.
Finally, the EU Council also asked to redefine crypto-asset service providers (‘CASPs’) (see EUROPE 13266/28), crowdfunding intermediaries, project holders and funders.
The aim is also to define, for greater legal clarity what is encompassed by the terms ‘precious metals’ and ‘precious stones’, given that those who trade in them are also included in the scope of application. Parliament had proposed that gold, silver, platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium and rhutenium should be considered as ‘precious metals’ and diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds as ‘precious stones’.
With regard to real estate and real estate transactions, a recital would replace the inclusion of property developers as obliged entities. This recital should not include intermediaries fulfilling other roles, such as notaries and lawyers.
Finally, with regard to gambling activities and casinos, it was suggested that Member States should have the possibility to identify gambling services associated with low risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, such as state or private lotteries or state-administered gambling activities, and to decide not to apply all or some of the requirements of this Regulation to them. The Commission could then be empowered to approve Member States’ decisions or reject them where the exception is not justified by a proven low risk.
To read the negotiation document: https://aeur.eu/f/9dw (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)