The Act of 1 March 2018 on Counteracting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Journal of Laws 2018, item 723; the ‘Act’) implements the European Parliament’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive in Poland. The new rules have applied since 13 July, but further changes are coming: the Parliament has already published a proposal for a Fifth AML Directive.
PEPs: POLITICALLY EXPOSED PERSONS
Every political system faces situations where politically exposed persons obtain unlawful income through corruption. International and domestic legislation seeks to prevent laundering those proceeds. The Fourth AML Directive addresses this by extending the PEP category to officials in international organisations. Obliged entities should establish whether a counterparty is a PEP and investigate the source of their wealth before contracting with them.
RESPONSIBLE PERSONS
The Act requires persons responsible for compliance to be appointed. A company should designate a management board member, senior management and an employee in a managerial position to ensure that its activities, employees and other persons acting on its behalf comply with AML and counter-terrorist financing rules. The designated employee is also responsible for making the notifications required by the Act on the obliged entity’s behalf.
CUSTOMER DUE DILIGENCE
Obliged entities identify and assess money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with business relationships or occasional transactions and must document this work. Measures include identifying the customer or beneficial owner and verifying their identity and assessing and monitoring customer relationships. The obligation arises when a relationship is established or a specified occasional transaction is carried out. If due diligence cannot be applied, the entity must not establish the relationship, carry out the occasional transaction or transact through a bank account, and must terminate existing relationships.
ANONYMOUS REPORTING OF BREACHES
Under AML rules, entities must organise a system allowing employees to report actual or potential breaches of AML or terrorist financing rules anonymously.
INTERNAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROCEDURE
Obliged entities must establish an internal AML procedure. Entities within a corporate group may adopt a common procedure. Article 50 of the Act specifies the matters it must cover.
PENALTIES
Penalties have increased and, as with the GDPR, are administrative. Non-compliance may attract a fine of up to EUR 5,000,000 or 10% of business turnover; for individuals, the maximum is PLN 20,868,500. Publication of information about breaches in the Public Information Bulletin (BIP) has also been introduced as a sanction.
