Source: OJ L, 2024/1624, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR)
Article 3 Obliged entities
Summary What does Article 3 of the Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) say?
This is a foundational scoping article that defines who qualifies as an "obliged entity" under the regulation — in other words, who is bound by its AML/CFT requirements.
It covers two broad categories: financial sector entities (credit institutions and financial institutions, including crypto-asset service providers) and a wide range of non-financial professionals and businesses.
The non-financial category is notably broad, stretching from lawyers, accountants and notaries, through real estate agents, gambling service providers and dealers in precious metals, to crowdfunding intermediaries, investment migration operators, and — notably new additions — football agents and professional football clubs in respect of certain transactions.
This article is the gateway to the rest of the regulation; if an entity falls within its scope, all subsequent obligations apply to it.
Important points:
- Determine whether your organisation falls within the list of obliged entities, as this article triggers all compliance obligations under the regulation.
- The scope extends well beyond traditional financial institutions to include a wide range of non-financial professionals and businesses acting in the exercise of their professional activities.
- Football agents and professional football clubs are explicitly included as obliged entities, though only in relation to specific transaction types such as investor dealings, sponsorship, and player transfers.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
The following entities are to be considered obliged entities for the purposes of this Regulation:
credit institutions;
financial institutions;
the following natural or legal persons acting in the exercise of their professional activities:
auditors, external accountants and tax advisors, and any other natural or legal person including independent legal professionals such as lawyers, that undertakes to provide, directly or by means of other persons to which that other person is related, material aid, assistance or advice on tax matters as principal business or professional activity;
notaries, lawyers and other independent legal professionals, where they participate, whether by acting on behalf of and for their client in any financial or real estate transaction, or by assisting in the planning or carrying out of transactions for their client concerning any of the following:
buying and selling of real property or business entities;
managing of client money, securities or other assets, including crypto-assets;
opening or management of bank, savings, securities or crypto-assets accounts;
organisation of contributions necessary for the creation, operation or management of companies;
creation, setting up, operation or management of trusts, companies, foundations, or similar structures;
trust or company service providers;
estate agents and other real estate professionals to the extent they act as intermediaries in real estate transactions, including in relation to the letting of immovable property for transactions for which the monthly rent amounts to at least EUR 10 000 or the equivalent in national currency, irrespective of the means of payment;
persons trading, as a regular or principal professional activity, in precious metals and stones;
persons trading, as a regular or principal professional activity, in high-value goods;
providers of gambling services;
crowdfunding service providers and crowdfunding intermediaries;
persons trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of cultural goods, including when this is carried out by art galleries and auction houses, where the value of the transaction or linked transactions amounts to at least EUR 10 000 or the equivalent in national currency;
persons storing, trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of cultural goods and high-value goods, when this is carried out within free zones and customs warehouses, where the value of the transaction or linked transactions amounts to at least EUR 10 000 or the equivalent in national currency;
credit intermediaries for mortgage and consumer credits, other than credit institutions and financial institutions, with the exception of the credit intermediaries carrying out activities under the responsibility of one or more creditors or credit intermediaries;
investment migration operators permitted to represent or offer intermediation services to third-country nationals seeking to obtain residence rights in a Member State in exchange for any kind of investment, including capital transfers, purchase or renting of property, investment in government bonds, investment in corporate entities, donation or endowment of an activity to the public good and contributions to the state budget;
non-financial mixed activity holding companies;
football agents;
professional football clubs in respect of the following transactions:
transactions with an investor;
transactions with a sponsor;
transactions with football agents or other intermediaries;
transactions for the purpose of a football player’s transfer.
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
football agent
Definition
financial mixed activity holding company
Definition
crypto-asset service provider
Definition
non-financial mixed activity holding company
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
linked transactions
Definition
crypto-asset
Definition
property
Definition
express trust
Definition
legal arrangement
Definition
crowdfunding service provider
Definition
gambling service
Definition
professional football club
Definition
trust or company service provider
- the formation of companies or other legal persons;
- acting as, or arranging for another person to act as, a director or secretary of a company, a partner of a partnership, or a similar position in relation to other legal persons;
- providing a registered office, business address, correspondence address or administrative address, as well as other related services for a company, a partnership or any other legal person or legal arrangement;
- acting as, or arranging for another person to act as, a trustee of an express trust or performing an equivalent function for a similar legal arrangement;
- acting as, or arranging for another person to act as, a nominee shareholder for another person;
Definition
cultural goods
Definition
precious metals and stones
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
crypto-asset account
Definition
funds
Definition
crowdfunding intermediary
- project owners, which are any natural or legal person seeking funding for projects, consisting of one or a set of predefined operations aiming at a particular objective, including fundraising for a particular cause or event irrespective of whether those projects are proposed to the public or to a limited number of funders; and
- funders, which are any natural or legal person contributing to the funding of projects, through loans, with or without interest, or donations, including where such donations entitle the donor to a non-material benefit;
Definition
high-value goods