Art. 57 Composition of the General Board | Anti-money laundering authority regulation (AMLAR) | AML

This article defines the composition of the General Board, which is the AMLA's main governing body as established in Article 56.

The General Board operates in one of two distinct modes depending on the matter at hand: a supervisory composition for AML/CFT oversight matters, and a FIU composition for financial intelligence unit-related matters.

In both cases, the Chair of the Authority and the relevant national heads hold voting rights, while the Commission sits as a non-voting observer.

The article also sets out rules for observer participation by bodies such as the ECB, the ESAs, Europol, and the EPPO, and clarifies that Executive Board members may attend General Board meetings without voting rights.

Important points:

Each Member State's supervisory authorities share a single vote in the supervisory composition and must agree on one common representative to exercise it.
Both the supervisory and FIU compositions require each participating authority to nominate a high-level alternate to stand in when the primary member cannot attend.
The General Board in supervisory composition is required to admit a representative of the ECB's Supervisory Board and one from each of the ESAs as observers where relevant matters are discussed.

1. The General Board shall have either the supervisory composition laid down in paragraph 2 or the FIU composition laid down in paragraph 3.
1. The General Board in supervisory composition shall be composed of:
  1. the Chair of the Authority, with the right to vote;
  2. the heads of the supervisory authorities of obliged entities in each Member State, with the right to vote;
  3. one representative of the Commission, without the right to vote.
2. The heads of the supervisory authorities referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), in each Member State shall share a single vote and shall agree on a single common representative, which shall be either a permanent representative or an ad hoc voting representative, for the purposes of each specific meeting or voting procedure. Where items to be discussed by the General Board in supervisory composition concern the competence of several supervisory authorities, the single common representative may be accompanied by a representative from up to two other supervisory authorities, without the right to vote.
3. Each supervisory authority that has a voting member under an ad hoc or permanent agreement shall be responsible for nominating a high-level alternate from its authority, who may replace the voting member of the General Board referred to in the second subparagraph where that person is unable to attend.
1. The General Board in FIU composition shall be composed of:
  1. the Chair of the Authority, with the right to vote;
  2. the heads of FIUs, with the right to vote;
  3. one representative of the Commission, without the right to vote.
2. Each FIU shall nominate a high-level alternate from its unit, who may replace the head of the FIU referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), where that person is unable to attend.
1. The General Board may decide to admit observers. In particular, the General Board in FIU composition may admit the representatives of OLAF, Europol, Eurojust and the EPPO as observers to meetings, where matters within the scope of their respective mandates are discussed. The General Board in supervisory composition shall admit a representative nominated by the Supervisory Board of the ECB and a representative of each of the ESAs as observers, where matters within the scope of their respective mandates are discussed.
2. The circumstances under which the Union institution, bodies, offices and agencies listed in the first subparagraph are to be invited to the meetings of the General Board shall be specified in the rules of procedure of the General Board and reflect an agreement reached between the Authority and each of those observers.
3. Other observers may be admitted on an ad hoc basis if approved by a two-thirds majority of the voting members of the General Board in the relevant composition.
1. The Executive Board members may participate in the meetings of the General Board, whether in supervisory composition or FIU composition, without the right to vote, where the items covered by their areas of responsibility as determined by the Chair of the Authority and referred to in Article 66(2) are discussed.