Art. 6 Exemptions for certain financial activities | Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) | AML

This article sits alongside Articles 4 and 5 as part of a trio of exemption provisions, and deals specifically with persons who engage in certain financial activities only occasionally or on a very limited basis.

Where the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing is low, Member States have the discretion to exempt such persons from the full requirements of the regulation.

However, that discretion is tightly conditioned: six cumulative criteria must all be satisfied, and even then, Member States retain an obligation to monitor for abuse.

Notably, money remittance providers are explicitly excluded from being able to benefit from this exemption.

Important points:

Member States are permitted to grant exemptions from the regulation's requirements, but only where all six qualifying criteria are simultaneously met — covering the nature, scale, and customer base of the financial activity.
The per-transaction threshold that Member States set must not exceed EUR 1 000, and the financial activity's turnover must not exceed 5% of the person's total turnover.
Member States are required to establish risk-based monitoring activities or other adequate measures to ensure exemptions granted under this article are not abused.

1. With the exception of persons engaged in the activity of money remittance as defined in Article 4, point (22), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, Member States may decide to exempt legal or natural persons that engage in a financial activity as listed in Annex I, points (2) to (12), (14) and (15), to Directive 2013/36/EU on an occasional or very limited basis where there is little risk of money laundering or terrorist financing from the requirements set out in this Regulation, provided that all of the following criteria are met:
  1. the financial activity is limited in absolute terms;
  2. the financial activity is limited on a transaction basis;
  3. the financial activity is not the main activity of such persons;
  4. the financial activity is ancillary and directly related to the main activity of such persons;
  5. the main activity of such persons is not an activity referred to in Article 3, point (3)(a) to (d) or (g) of this Regulation;
  6. the financial activity is provided only to the customers of the main activity of such persons and is not generally offered to the public.
1. For the purposes of paragraph 1, point (a), Member States shall require that the total turnover of the financial activity does not exceed a threshold which shall be sufficiently low. That threshold shall be established at national level, depending on the type of financial activity.
1. For the purposes of paragraph 1, point (b), Member States shall apply a maximum threshold per customer and per single transaction, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or through linked transactions. That maximum threshold shall be established at national level, depending on the type of financial activity. It shall be sufficiently low in order to ensure that the types of transactions in question are an impractical and inefficient method for money laundering or terrorist financing, and shall not exceed EUR 1 000 or the equivalent in national currency, irrespective of the means of payment.
1. For the purposes of paragraph 1, point (c), Member States shall require that the turnover of the financial activity does not exceed 5 % of the total turnover of the natural or legal person concerned.
1. In assessing the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing for the purposes of this Article, Member States shall pay particular attention to any financial activity which is considered to be particularly likely, by its nature, to be used or abused for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.
1. Member States shall establish risk-based monitoring activities or take other adequate measures to ensure that the exemptions granted pursuant to this Article are not abused.