Information about the works that are ongoing on the amendment bill to the Act on an Amendment to the Act on Countering Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Some Other Acts (“Amendment Bill”) was published on the website of the Bulletin of Public Information of the Council of Ministers.

The main goal of the said regulation is to implement the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU (“AML V Directive”) into the Polish legal system.

As it is clear from the information published on the website, the Amendment Bill assumes that several significant changed will be made, including:

  • clarification and extension of the list of obliged entities, by adding entrepreneurs carrying on a business consisting of, among others:
  1. trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of works of art,
  2. trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of collector’s items and antiques;
  3. storing, trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of the aforementioned items, where the value of the transaction amounts to EUR 10 000 or more;
  • clarification of some of the definitions, including the definition of beneficial owner, member state and group;
  • clarification of the rules for the application of financial security measures and activities taken in relations with high-risk third countries;
  • implementation of the data verification mechanisms in the Central Beneficial Owner Register;
  • introduction of the obligation for the EU Member States to publish a list of public functions classified as prominent public functions;
  • clarification of the rules for storing the documents and information received as a result of the application of financial security measures;
  • introduction of the solutions regarding the restriction on services provided to some entities;
  • extension of the catalogue of sanctions imposed on the obliged entities in the case of infringement of the Act.

The Bill is scheduled to be adopted by the Council of Ministers in Q2 2020.

We will keep you updated on the solutions adopted by the legislator aimed to implement the  AML V Directive and on the progress of works on the Bill.