The new Anti-Money Laundering EU Directive 2018/843

• The 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 has been published in OJEU L 156/43 6.2018.

      Overview : The new Directive provides a definition of virtual currency. Pursuant to the Directive, a virtual currency is a digital representation of value that is not issued or guaranteed by a central bank or a public authority, is not necessarily attached to a legally established currency and does not possess a legal status of currency or money, but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a means of exchange and which can be transferred, stored and traded electronically (art. 1, 2 (d)).

        The new Directive aims to both detect and examine cash laundering and stop it from occurring.It will now be required operators of virtual currency exchanges, custodian wallet providers for virtual currencies, persons  trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of art works worth at least EUR 10.000  to comply with EU anti-money laundering rules. Financial inspection agencies will be allowed access to information which will enable them to associate virtual currency addresses to the identity of the owner of the virtual currency. The directive extends access to a central register by allowing anyone to access the information on the register if they can demonstrate a legitimate interest. Member States may choose to make the information available more broadly. The registers will be interconnected across Member States through a common platform. The directive does not specify any minimum safeguards that Member States should apply to protect the security and confidentiality of sensitive commercial or personal information filed on the register. Member States are required to ensure that breaches of these obligations are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive measures or sanctions.Operators that accept to receive cryptocurrencies as payment will need to account for them in order to correctly register them in the budget according to the law of the countries in which they operate.