The OJ of the European Union published Regulation 2024/1624 on the 19th of this month of June 2024, which is in fact an update of European anti-money laundering legislation and in a way rewrites the 4th & 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives of 2015 & 2020.

There’s nothing fundamentally new here, but there are a few clarifications worth noting. The aim of the Regulation is to give an additional boost to the European Union’s AML/CFT policy. It is also intended to better organize the legal framework in anticipation of the arrival of the AMLA.

Let’s face it, the arrival of the ALCB in 2025 will make the application of European AML/CFT policy more stringent, making this update of European anti-money laundering legislation necessary. If we are to evolve towards a healthier and more profitable economic life for all, we will have to become increasingly familiar with AML/CFT rules.

Some people may smile at this relationship with economic life, but at 1stKYC, we truly believe in this idea, without turning into AML/CFT ayatollahs. Remember that 1stKYC is first and foremost a tool designed to help you navigate the LCB/FT legislation efficiently and inexpensively.

As far as the new regulations are concerned, we’ve prepared a number of explanatory publications, which you’ll soon be able to read, and which will go over the points of interest in the new regulations that you need to pay attention to.

The first and most important change is in the title!

This is a Regulation, not a Directive. In other words, it’s a legal measure applying automatically to all EU member countries, with no possibility of national interpretation. The Regulation will come into force on 10/07/2024 and will apply from 10/07/2027, with the exception of transitional measures to enable adaptation to the entities concerned.

Insofar as the Regulation incorporates the same rules as the 4th and 5th Directives, it seems logical to us to draw inspiration from them and to take them into account as quickly as possible.

When the 4th and 5th Directives were transposed into national law, some Member States saw fit to introduce a few nuances into the basic rules, which sometimes led to confusion in the interpretation of the initial rule. That’s all over now… at least in theory.

As for the rest, we will shortly be dealing with :

– new entities and functions subject or not

– the “know your customer” (KYC) concept and the due diligence function

– the relationship between Regulation 2024/1624 and the GDPR.

Well, we’ve got our work cut out for us!