New catalogue of obliged entities – what changes brings the novelization of AML Act?

The current AML Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing is an implementation of V AML Directive 2018/843 of 30 May 2018 into Polish law. In order to fulfill the requirements of the V AML Directive it is necessary to amend the current AML Act. The initial draft, which is currently at the stage of reviews and opinions, introduces a number of changes that will impose adjustment of internal policies and business practices after it comes into force.

The proposed amendment, among others, expands the catalogue of obliged entities, i.e. categories of institutions obliged to fulfil the obligations imposed by the AML Act.

The new obligated entity would be entrepreneurs (within the meaning of the Entrepreneurs’ Law) who provide services consisting of:

• preparing declarations,
• keeping tax books,
• providing advice, opinions or explanations on tax or customs legislation.

The catalogue of obliged institutions, in accordance with the project, will also include entrepreneurs running art galleries or auction houses, within of which they participate in trade or act as intermediaries in trade of works of art, collector’s items and antiques, as well as entrepreneurs running the activity consisting in storage, trade or intermediation of the aforementioned items. It should be noted that these entrepreneurs will be treated as obliged institutions only in the scope of transactions with a value equal to or exceeding EUR 10 000 (both if it was a one-time operation or several operations).

In the following posts, we will present other changes planned in the draft of the amendments to the AML Act.

Author: Aleksandra Hajdukiewicz, Trainee Attorney-at-law, associate in Kołecka Law Firm