Art. 30 Screening requirements | RTS on customer due diligence | AML

This article provides the operational detail behind Article 29, which requires obliged entities to establish whether their customers and related parties are subject to targeted financial sanctions.

Article 30 sets out precisely how that screening must be carried out: what data must be checked, how matches must be investigated, when screening must take place, and the requirement to use up-to-date sanctions lists.

It is, in essence, the procedural engine that makes Article 29's obligation actionable.

Important points:

Screen customers, beneficial owners, and controlling entities against targeted financial sanctions lists using automated tools, covering names, aliases, and digital wallet addresses — manual-only checks are permitted only where proportionate to the size and nature of your business.
When a match is found, cross-reference it against all available due diligence information to confirm whether it is a true hit, consulting public registers and other sources where doubt remains.
Screening must take place at onboarding, when sanctions designations change, and when significant changes occur in a customer's due diligence data — always using updated sanctions lists and without undue delay.

For the purposes of Article 29, obliged entities shall:
1. screen, through automated screening tools or solutions, or a combination of automated screening tools and manual checks, at least the following information on customers, beneficial owners and the entities or persons which control or meet the ownership conditions over such customers:
  in the case of a natural person, all the names and surnames, in the original and/or transliteration of such data;
  in the case of a legal person, the registered name of the legal person, in the original and/or transliteration of such data;
  in the case of a natural person, legal person, body or entity:
  any other names, aliases or trade names where they differ from the registered name;
  digital wallet addresses, where available in the lists of targeted financial sanctions.
  Obliged entities may perform manual checks of information subject to screening under this point only where manual checks are proportionate to the size, business model, complexity, or nature of their business.
2. in case of a match, the information under point (a) shall be checked against all available due diligence information on the customer, the beneficial owners or entities or persons which control or meet the ownership conditions under Article 20(1), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 to determine whether a person is the intended target of the targeted financial sanctions. In case of doubt, the obliged entity shall refer to all other sources available to them, including public sources of information, such as registers of owned and controlled entities and central registers.
3. regularly screen their customers, beneficial owners and entities or persons which control or meet the ownership conditions under Article 20(1), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, at least under the following circumstances:
  during customer onboarding or before entering into a business relationship or performing an occasional transaction;
  when there is a change in any of the existing designations, or a new designation is made pursuant to Article 26(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624;
  there is a significant change in the due diligence data of an existing customer, beneficial owner or entity, or person which controls or meet the ownership conditions under Article 20(1), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, such as but not limited to a change of name, residence, or nationality or change of business operations, which may have a potential impact on the designation as a listed person, body or entity;
4. ensure that the screening and verification are performed without undue delay by using updated targeted financial sanctions lists.