Source: OJ L, 2024/1640, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive
Article 50 AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the non-financial sector
Summary What does Article 50 of the Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive say?
This article is the non-financial sector counterpart to Article 49, which establishes AML/CFT supervisory colleges for the financial sector.
Article 50 creates a parallel framework specifically for non-financial sector obliged entities, setting out when supervisory colleges can or must be established, who the permanent members are, and how the colleges operate.
It also includes a notable escalation mechanism: where the supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking declines to set up a college, other non-financial supervisors can collectively push for one to be established anyway, and can proceed to form it themselves with a minimum of two members if the lead supervisor still refuses.
Important points:
- Non-financial supervisors are required to set up AML/CFT supervisory colleges where a non-financial sector group or obliged entity has establishments in at least two other Member States, or where a third-country entity has establishments in at least three Member States.
- Where the lead supervisor refuses to set up a college, at least two other non-financial supervisors can submit a joint opinion to compel the process, and may ultimately set up the college themselves.
- AMLA may attend college meetings as an observer, facilitates the colleges' work, and is the body to which disagreements between college members are referred for an opinion within 2 months.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Member States shall ensure that the non-financial supervisors in charge of the parent undertaking of a group of obliged entities in the non-financial sector or of the head office of an obliged entity in the non-financial sector are able to set up dedicated AML/CFT supervisory colleges in any of the following situations:
where an obliged entity in the non-financial sector, or a group thereof, has set up establishments in at least two different Member States other than the Member State where its head office is located;
where a third-country entity subject to AML/CFT requirements other than a credit institution or a financial institution has set up establishments in at least three Member States.
This paragraph shall also apply to structures which share common ownership, management or compliance control, including networks or partnerships to which group-wide requirements apply pursuant to Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624.
The permanent members of the college shall be the non-financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking or of the head office and the non-financial supervisors in charge of establishments in host Member States or of supervision of that obliged entity in other Member States in the cases covered by Article 37(1), second subparagraph.
Member States shall ensure that where the non-financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking of a group or of the head office of an obliged entity does not set up a college, non-financial supervisors referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, point (b), can submit an opinion that, having regard to the money laundering and terrorist financing risks to which the obliged entity or group is exposed and the scale of its cross-border activities, a college shall be set up. That opinion shall be submitted by at least two non-financial supervisors and addressed to:
the non-financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking of a group or of the head office of an obliged entity;
AMLA;
all other non-financial supervisors.
Where the non-financial supervisor referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph is a self-regulatory body, that opinion shall also be submitted to the public authority in charge of overseeing that self-regulatory body pursuant to Article 52.
Where, after an opinion is submitted pursuant to paragraph 2, the non-financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking of a group or of the head office of an obliged entity still considers that it is not necessary to set up a college, Member States shall ensure that the other non-financial supervisors are able to set up the college, provided that it is composed of at least two members. In those cases, those non-financial supervisors shall decide among them who is the supervisor in charge of the college. The non-financial supervisor in charge of the parent undertaking of a group or of the head office of an obliged entity shall be informed of the activities of the college and be able to join the college at any time.
For the purposes of paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that non-financial supervisors identify:
all obliged entities in the non-financial sector that have their head office in their Member State and that have establishments in other Member States or third countries;
all establishments set up by those obliged entities in other Member States or third countries;
establishments set up in their territory by obliged entities in the non-financial sector from other Member States or third countries.
Where obliged entities in the non-financial sector carry out activities in other Member States under the freedom to provide services, the non-financial supervisor of the home Member State may invite the non-financial supervisors of those Member States to participate in the college as observers.
Where a group in the non-financial sector includes any credit institution or financial institution, but their presence in the group does not meet the threshold for setting up a college pursuant to Article 49, the supervisor setting up the college shall invite the financial supervisors of those credit institutions or financial institutions to participate in the college.
Member States may allow the setting up of AML/CFT supervisory colleges when an obliged entity in the non-financial sector established in the Union has set up establishments in at least two third countries. Non-financial supervisors may invite their counterparts in those third countries to set up such college. The non-financial supervisors participating in the college shall establish a written agreement detailing the conditions and procedures for the cooperation and exchange of information.
Where the college is set up in relation to obliged entities referred to in Article 3, points (3)(a) and (b), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 or groups thereof, the written agreement referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall also include procedures to ensure that no information collected pursuant to Article 21(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 is shared, unless the second subparagraph of Article 21(2) applies.
Member States shall ensure that colleges are used, among others, for exchanging information, providing mutual assistance or coordinating the supervisory approach to the group or obliged entity, including, where relevant, the taking of appropriate and proportionate measures to address serious breaches of Regulations (EU) 2024/1624 and (EU) 2023/1113 that are detected at the level of the group or of the obliged entity, or across the establishments set up by the group or obliged entity in the jurisdiction of a supervisor participating in the college.
AMLA may attend the meetings of the AML/CFT supervisory colleges and shall facilitate their work in accordance with Article 36 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. Where AMLA decides to participate in the meetings of an AML/CFT supervisory college, it shall have the status of an observer.
Non-financial supervisors may allow their counterparts in third countries to participate in AML/CFT supervisory colleges as observers in the case referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), or where Union obliged entities in the non-financial sector or groups thereof operate branches and subsidiaries in those third countries, provided that:
the third-country counterparts submit a request for participation and the members of the college agree with their participation, or the members of the college agree to invite those third-country counterparts;
Union data protection rules concerning data transfers are complied with;
the third-country counterparts sign the written agreement referred to in paragraph 7 and share within the college the relevant information they possess for the supervision of the obliged entity or of the group;
the information disclosed is subject to a guarantee of professional secrecy requirements at least equivalent to that referred to in Article 67(1) and is used solely for the purposes of performing the supervisory tasks of the participating non-financial supervisors or of the counterparts in third countries.
Member States shall ensure that non-financial supervisors in charge of the parent undertaking of a group or of the head office of an obliged entity or, in the cases covered by paragraph 3, of the college carry out an assessment of whether the conditions of the first subparagraph of this paragraph are met and submit it to the permanent members of the college. That assessment shall be carried out prior to the third-country counterpart being allowed to join the college and may be repeated as necessary thereafter. The non-financial supervisors in charge of the assessment may seek the support of AMLA for the performance of that assessment.
Where deemed necessary by the permanent members of the college, additional observers may be invited, provided that confidentiality requirements are complied with. Observers may include FIUs.
Where the members of a college disagree on the measures to be taken in relation to an obliged entity, they may refer the matter to AMLA and request its assistance in accordance with Article 38 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. AMLA shall provide its opinion on the matter of disagreement within 2 months.
By 10 July 2026, AMLA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards and submit them to the Commission for adoption. Those draft regulatory technical standards shall specify:
the general conditions for the functioning of the AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the non-financial sector, including the terms of cooperation between permanent members and with observers, and the operational functioning of such colleges;
the template for the written agreement to be signed by non-financial supervisors pursuant to paragraph 7;
conditions for the participation of non-financial supervisors in third countries;
any additional measure to be implemented by the colleges when groups include credit institutions or financial institutions.
Power is delegated to the Commission to supplement this Directive by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 49 to 52 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620.
By 10 July 2029 and every 2 years thereafter, AMLA shall issue an opinion on the functioning of AML/CFT supervisory colleges in the non-financial sector. That opinion shall include:
an overview of the colleges set up by non-financial supervisors;
an assessment of the actions taken by those colleges and the level of cooperation attained, including difficulties faced in the functioning of the colleges.
Springlex and this text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. No liability is assumed for its content. The authentic version of this act is the one published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Definition
crypto-asset services
Definition
supervisor
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host Member State
Definition
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
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financial supervisor
Definition
credit institution
- a credit institution as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
- a branch of a credit institution, as defined in Article 4(1), point (17), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, when located in the Union, whether its head office is located in a Member State or in a third country;
Definition
AML/CFT supervisory college
Definition
parent undertaking
- for groups whose head office is located in the Union, an obliged entity that is a parent undertaking as defined in Article 2, point (9), of Directive 2013/34/EU that is not itself a subsidiary of another undertaking in the Union, provided that at least one subsidiary undertaking is an obliged entity;
- for groups whose head office is located outside of the Union, where at least two subsidiary undertakings are obliged entities established in the Union, an undertaking within that group established in the Union that:
- is an obliged entity;
- is an undertaking that is not a subsidiary of another undertaking that is an obliged entity established in the Union;
- has a sufficient prominence within the group and a sufficient understanding of the operations of the group that are subject to the requirements of this Regulation; and
- is given the responsibility of implementing group-wide requirements under Chapter II, Section 2 of this Regulation;
Definition
home Member State
Definition
crypto-asset
Definition
non-financial supervisor
Definition
establishment
- a branch or subsidiary;
- in the case of credit institutions and financial institutions, an infrastructure qualifying as an establishment under prudential regulation;
Definition
property
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terrorist financing
Definition
group
Definition
money laundering
Definition
financial institution
- an undertaking other than a credit institution or an investment firm, which carries out one or more of the activities listed in points (2) to (12), (14) and (15) of Annex I to Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(32), including the activities of currency exchange offices (bureaux de change), but excluding the activities referred to in point (8) of Annex I to Directive (EU) 2015/2366, or an undertaking the principal activity of which is to acquire holdings, including a financial holding company, a mixed financial holding company and a financial mixed activity holding company;
- an insurance undertaking as defined in Article 13, point (1), of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(33), insofar as it carries out life or other investment-related assurance activities covered by that Directive, including insurance holding companies and mixed-activity insurance holding companies as defined, respectively, in Article 212(1), points (f) and (g), of Directive 2009/138/EC;
- an insurance intermediary as defined in Article 2(1), point (3), of Directive (EU) 2016/97 where it acts with respect to life insurance and other investment-related insurance services, with the exception of an insurance intermediary that does not collect premiums or amounts intended for the customer and which acts under the responsibility of one or more insurance undertakings or intermediaries for the products which concern them respectively;
- an investment firm as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(34);
- a collective investment undertaking, in particular:
- an undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC and its management company as defined in Article 2(1), point (b), of that Directive or an investment company authorised in accordance with that Directive and which has not designated a management company, that makes available for purchase units of UCITS in the Union;
- an alternative investment fund as defined in Article 4(1), point (a), of Directive 2011/61/EU and its alternative investment fund manager as defined in Article 4(1), point (b), of that Directive that fall within the scope set out in Article 2 of that Directive;
- a central securities depository as defined in Article 2(1), point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council(35);
- a creditor as defined in Article 4, point (2), of Directive 2014/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(36) and in Article 3, point (b), of Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(37);
- a credit intermediary as defined in Article 4, point (5), of Directive 2014/17/EU and in Article 3, point (f), of Directive 2008/48/EC, when holding the funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 in connection with the credit agreement, with the exception of the credit intermediary carrying out activities under the responsibility of one or more creditors or credit intermediaries;
- a crypto-asset service provider;
- a branch of a financial institution referred to in points (a) to (i), when located in the Union, whether its head office is located in a Member State or in a third country;
Definition
self-regulatory body
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third country
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non-financial sector
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funds
Definition
obliged entity