On 23rd April 2021 the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2021 entered into force. This Act transposed the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into Irish law and it amended the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (the Act). One of the changes introduced in 2021 was the inclusion of high value art traders and high value art intermediaries as a category of designated persons under the Act.
Under section 25 of the Act, persons trading or acting as an intermediary in the trade of works of art (including when carried out by an art gallery or an auction house) but only in respect of transactions of at least €10,000 in value (whether in one transaction or a series of transactions that appear to be linked) are now a new category of designated person obliged to take the measures set out in the Act to ensure their business is not being used for money laundering and/or terrorist financing.
The Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Unit (AMLCU) is now responsible for the supervision of art traders and art intermediaries to ensure they are fulfilling their anti-money laundering compliance and counter terrorist financing obligations under the Act.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a report entitled ‘Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Art and Antiquities Market – February 2023’. The report can be found at the link here and on the Notifications page of this website
On 8 December 2021 the AMLCU hosted a webinar for businesses trading in art with the purpose of:
- introducing the AMLCU
- explaining the legal obligations included in the Act
- presenting on the AMLCU’s approach to compliance monitoring
- highlighting some of the risks in the art sector and
- demonstrating how suspicious transactions and activity can be reported to both the Revenue Commissioners and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The webinar consisted of an introductory presentation from the AMLCU, a presentation on obligations under the Act, a presentation from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) (AGS) on risks, a presentation from the Revenue Commissioners on suspicious transaction reporting and a questions and answers session.