Source: OJ L, 2024/1620, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering authority regulation (AMLAR)
Article 23 Periodic penalty payments
Summary What does Article 23 of the Anti-money laundering authority regulation (AMLAR) say?
This article establishes the Authority's power to impose recurring financial penalties — periodic penalty payments — as a coercive tool to enforce compliance.
It sits alongside Article 22 (which covers one-off pecuniary sanctions) and is specifically designed to compel action rather than punish a past breach.
The article sets out when these payments can be triggered, their financial limits, how long they can run, and notably allows for retroactive application back to the date the original administrative measure took effect.
Important points:
- The Executive Board can impose periodic penalty payments on selected obliged entities that fail to comply with certain administrative measures, or on any person who fails to supply information or cooperate with an investigation.
- The payments are capped at 3% of average daily turnover for legal persons and 2% of average daily income for natural persons, and continue until compliance is achieved.
- The initial imposition period is capped at six months, but the Authority may extend this for a further six months if non-compliance persists.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
The Executive Board may adopt a decision imposing a periodic penalty payment in order to compel:
a selected obliged entity to put an end to a breach, where it fails to comply with an administrative measure applied pursuant to Article 21(2), point (b), (d), (e) or (f), and Article 21(3);
a person referred to in Article 17(1) to supply complete information which has been required by a decision pursuant to Article 6(1);
a person referred to in Article 17(1) to submit to an investigation and in particular to produce complete records, data, procedures or any other material required and to complete and correct other information provided in an investigation launched pursuant to Article 18.
The periodic penalty payment shall be effective and proportionate. The periodic penalty payment shall be imposed until the selected obliged entity or person concerned complies with the relevant administrative measure referred to in paragraph 1.
Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the amount of a periodic penalty payment shall not exceed, in the case of legal persons, 3 % of the average daily turnover in the preceding business year or, in the case of natural persons, 2 % of the average daily income in the preceding calendar year. It shall be calculated from the date set in the decision imposing the periodic penalty payment.
A periodic penalty payment may be imposed for a period of no more than six months following the notification of the Authority’s decision. Where, upon the expiry of that period, the selected obliged entity has not yet complied with the administrative measure, the Authority may impose periodic penalty payments for an additional period of no more than six months.
The decision imposing a periodic penalty payment may be taken at a later stage with retroactive effect up to the date of application of the administrative measure.
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
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
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
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
selected obliged entity
Definition
crypto-asset
Definition
property
Definition
group
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
third country
Definition
funds