Source: OJ L, 2024/1624, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR)
Article 46 Family members and persons known to be close associates of politically exposed persons
Summary What does Article 46 of the Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) say?
This is a short but important extension article.
Rather than introducing new obligations, it explicitly extends the enhanced due diligence measures already established in Articles 42, 44, and 45 — which govern how obliged entities must treat politically exposed persons (PEPs) — to also cover family members and known close associates of those PEPs.
In doing so, it closes a potential loophole whereby the enhanced scrutiny applied to a PEP could be circumvented by routing transactions or relationships through connected individuals.
Important points:
- Apply the same enhanced due diligence measures used for politically exposed persons to their family members and known close associates.
- The scope of "family member" includes spouses, partners, children and their spouses or partners, parents, and in certain cases siblings.
- This article does not create standalone obligations — it purely extends the reach of the rules set out in Articles 42, 44, and 45.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
The measures referred to in Articles 42, 44 and 45 shall also apply to family members or persons known to be close associates of politically exposed persons.
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
politically exposed person
- in a Member State:
- heads of State, heads of government, ministers and deputy or assistant ministers;
- members of parliament or of similar legislative bodies;
- members of the governing bodies of political parties that hold seats in national executive or legislative bodies, or in regional or local executive or legislative bodies representing constituencies of at least 50 000 inhabitants;
- members of supreme courts, of constitutional courts or of other high-level judicial bodies, the decisions of which are not subject to further appeal, except in exceptional circumstances;
- members of courts of auditors or of the boards of central banks;
- ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and high-ranking officers in the armed forces;
- members of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of enterprises controlled under any of the relationships listed in Article 22 of Directive 2013/34/EU either by the state, or, where those enterprises qualify as medium sized or large undertakings or medium sized or large groups, as defined in Article 3(3), (4), (6) and (7) of that Directive, by regional or local authorities;
- heads of regional and local authorities, including groupings of municipalities and metropolitan regions, with at least 50 000 inhabitants;
- other prominent public functions provided for by Member States;
- in an international organisation:
- the highest ranking officials, their deputies and members of the board or equivalent functions of an international organisation;
- representatives to a Member State or to the Union;
- at Union level:
functions at the level of Union institutions and bodies that are equivalent to those listed in points (a) (i), (ii), (iv), (v) and (vi);
- in a third country:
functions that are equivalent to those listed in point (a);
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
family member
- a spouse, or a person in a registered partnership or civil union or in a similar arrangement;
- a child and a spouse of, or a person in a registered partnership or civil union or in a similar arrangement with, that child;
- a parent;
- for the functions referred to in point (34)(a)(i) and equivalent functions at Union level or in a third country, a sibling;
Definition
group
Definition
third country