Source: OJ L, 2024/1624, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR)
Article 8 Notification of cross-border operations and application of national law
Summary What does Article 8 of the Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) say?
This article governs how obliged entities must behave when expanding their activities across Member State borders.
It establishes a notification framework directed at the home Member State supervisor, sets out which national rules apply when operating in multiple jurisdictions, and clarifies compliance obligations for entities acting through agents, distributors, or other infrastructure abroad.
The article sits alongside the broader supervisory framework of the regulation and connects directly to Directive (EU) 2024/1640 for specific procedural requirements around cross-border operations and central contact points.
Important points:
- Notify your home Member State supervisor before carrying out activities in another Member State — at least 3 months in advance in the case of establishing a physical presence.
- Where you operate establishments across multiple Member States, each establishment must comply with the local rules of the Member State in which it is located.
- Any planned change to the information previously notified to the home supervisor must be communicated at least 1 month before that change is made.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
Obliged entities wishing to carry out activities within the territory of another Member State for the first time shall notify the supervisors of their home Member State of the activities which they intend to carry out in that other Member State. That notification shall be submitted as soon as the obliged entity takes steps to carry out the activities, and, in the case of establishments at least 3 months prior to the commencement of those activities. Obliged entities shall immediately notify the supervisors of their home Member State upon commencement of those activities in that other Member State.
The first subparagraph shall not apply to obliged entities subject to specific notification procedures for the exercise of the freedom of establishment and of the freedom to provide services under other Union legal acts or to cases where the obliged entity is subject to specific authorisation requirements in order to operate in the territory of that other Member State.
Any planned change to the information communicated under paragraph 1 shall be communicated by the obliged entity to the supervisor of the home Member State at least 1 month before making the change.
Where this Regulation allows Member States to adopt additional rules applicable to obliged entities, obliged entities shall comply with the national rules of the Member State in which they are established.
Where obliged entities operate establishments in several Member States, they shall ensure that each establishment applies the rules of the Member State in which it is located.
Where obliged entities as referred to in Article 38(1) of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 operate, in other Member States than the one where they are established through agents, distributors, or through other types of infrastructure located in those other Member States under the freedom to provide services, they shall apply the rules of the Member States in which they provide services in relation to those activities, unless Article 38(2) of that Directive applies, in which case they shall apply the rules of the Member State where their head office is located.
Where obliged entities are required to appoint a central contact point pursuant to Article 41 of Directive (EU) 2024/1640, they shall ensure that the central contact point is able to ensure compliance with applicable law on behalf of the obliged entity.
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
supervisor
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
crypto-asset
Definition
establishment
- a branch or subsidiary;
- in the case of credit institutions and financial institutions, an infrastructure qualifying as an establishment under prudential regulation;
Definition
property
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