The European Council and Parliament reach a provisional agreement on a package of new anti-money laundering rules: details and consequences for the sector.
On January 18th, the European Council issued a press release, stating that the Parliament and the European Council have reached a provisional agreement on a package of new anti-money laundering rules aimed at improving the organization of national systems to fight money laundering and the financing of criminal organizations within the EU.
The extension of the new rules
The agreement proposes to expand the list of entities obligated to comply with anti-money laundering rules. Among these are traders of luxury goods, professional football clubs and agents, and providers of cryptocurrency-related services.
As explained in the press release, the new rules will cover a significant portion of the cryptocurrency sector and will require all crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to conduct customer data verifications and report any suspicious activities.
To mitigate the risk associated with transactions to and from non-custodial wallets, CASPs will need to implement specific control measures when a customer attempts transactions of €1000 or more.
Furthermore, it is anticipated that providers of digital asset services will adopt more stringent measures for transactions involving countries considered high-risk, whose deficiencies in their national regimes against money laundering and terrorism financing pose a threat, according to the EU regulator, to the integrity of the EU’s internal market.
