The European Union has recently implemented a series of laws aimed at bolstering its efforts in combating terrorism financing and money laundering, while also ensuring the efficacy of its legal framework. These new laws grant greater authority to various entities, including journalists, media professionals, civil society organizations, as well as independent and trustworthy bodies. They will now have extensive access to national registries and information regarding the true beneficial ownership of companies and other legal entities. Furthermore, these registries will retain historical data for a minimum of five years in addition to current information.

Additionally, the new laws provide financial intelligence units with expanded powers to analyze and report suspicious transactions, as well as the ability to freeze any transactions deemed suspicious. To further strengthen monitoring measures, certain professionals involved in regular transactions, such as lawyers, notaries, accountants, and real estate agents, will be required to assess the circumstances of their clients, scrutinize transactions, and report any suspicious activity.

In efforts to enforce compliance, the regulations also enforce stringent measures, including fines of up to €50 million or 10,000 euros for cross-border cash payments within the euro area. Furthermore, measures have been implemented to preserve concrete evidence of targeted financial sanctions and to prevent sanction evasion.

Reports indicate that over a third of the European Union’s most secure organizations responsible for overseeing financial flows are now providing their executives with non-transparent assets.

Source: News from Armenia – NEWS.am