Source: AMLA consultation paper draft
- Anti-money laundering
AMLR supplemental acts
- RTS on customer due diligence
Article 19 Identification of Politically Exposed Persons
This is a draft act
This text has been parsed from the AMLA consultation paper draft as published on 9 February 2026. While we run a suite of validations, the automated parsing can result in errors. Also, before it is finally adopted by the Commission, its wording, numbering and references may change, and entire articles might be removed or added.
Summary What does Article 19 of the RTS on customer due diligence say?
This article sets out the practical obligations on obliged entities for identifying whether customers, beneficial owners, or persons on whose behalf a transaction is carried out qualify as politically exposed persons (PEPs), their family members, or known close associates.
It builds directly on Article 20(1), point (g), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, translating that higher-level requirement into concrete procedural steps.
The article covers two distinct moments of screening: before onboarding or carrying out an occasional transaction, and on an ongoing basis for existing customers.
It also specifies the triggers that require screening to be repeated without delay, such as changes in customer information or updates to the official list of prominent public functions.
Notably, the article closes by mandating the use of automated screening tools, with manual-only checks permitted only where the size, business model, complexity, or nature of the obliged entity's business justifies it.
Important points:
- Screen customers, beneficial owners, and relevant third parties for PEP status before establishing a business relationship or carrying out an occasional transaction.
- Re-screen existing customers on a risk-sensitive basis and without delay when new information emerges or the official list of prominent public functions is updated.
- Put in place automated screening tools, or a combination of automated and manual checks, unless the nature of your business justifies manual checks only.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
To identify a politically exposed person or a family member 2, or person known to be a close associate3 of a politically exposed person, pursuant to Article 20(1), point (g), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, obliged entities shall determine:
With the exception of the situations referred to in Article 44 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, before the establishment of the business relationship or the carrying out of the occasional transaction, if the customer, the beneficial owner of the customer and, where relevant, the person on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being carried out, is a politically exposed person, a family member, or person known to be a close associate; and
whether existing customers, the beneficial owner of the customer and, where relevant, the person on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being carried out are or have become politically exposed persons, family members or persons known to be a close associate of a politically exposed person.
The determination specified in paragraph 1, point (b), shall take place:
with a frequency established on the basis of a risk-sensitive approach;
without delay in case of new information or changes in information collected for the purposes of the performance of customer due diligence measures that may have an impact on the identification as a politically exposed person,
without delay in case of changes and amendments to the list of prominent public functions published pursuant to Article 43(5) of the Regulation (EU) 2024/1624.
To comply with paragraphs 1 and 2, obliged entities shall put in place automated screening tools and measures, or a combination of automated screening tools and manual checks unless the size, business model, complexity or nature of the business of the obliged entity justifies the use of manual checks only.
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
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
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
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
express trust
Definition
legal arrangement
Definition
group
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
person known to be a close associate
- a natural person who is known to have joint beneficial ownership of legal entities or legal arrangements, or any other close business relations, with a politically exposed person;
- a natural person who has sole beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement which is known to have been set up for the de facto benefit of a politically exposed person;
Definition
funds
Definition
beneficial owner
Definition
business relationship