Consultation on Implementation Act AMLD5

On 11 December 2018, the consultation of the Implementation Act amending the fourth anti-money laundering directive was published (link only available in Dutch). The draft legislative proposal transposes a large part of the provisions included in Directive 2018/843 (AMLD5) into the Dutch Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft). The draft legislative proposal, inter alia, regulates:

• a broader scope of the Wwft, which means that new service providers fall under the Wwft;
• an expansion of the customer due diligence (CDD) measures with respect to prepaid payment instruments (e-money);
• an enhanced CDD with respect to third countries with high risk on money laundering or terrorist financing;
• the introduction of a list of prominent public functions;
• a better exchange of information between the relevant supervisors.

The draft legislative proposal introduces a ‘Wwft license requirement’ for the providers of virtual currency exchange platforms and custodian wallet providers (hereinafter: providers). The Explanatory Memorandum shows that far-reaching CDD measures are expected from the providers in the sense of enhanced client due diligence. The providers must, for example, be able to link virtual currency addresses to the identity of the owner of the virtual currency.