Financial Crime World

Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Legislation: A Comprehensive Overview

Introduction

The Irish government has implemented a robust anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) framework, with The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (CJA 2010) serving as its primary legislation. This act transposed European Union directives on AML/CFT into domestic law, reflecting international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Primary Legislation

The CJA 2010 sets out various requirements for designated persons, including credit and financial institutions, to ensure compliance with AML/CFT provisions. These include:

  • Customer Due Diligence: Designated persons must conduct customer due diligence to verify the identity of customers and beneficial owners.
  • Risk-Based Approaches: Institutions must adopt a risk-based approach to identify and mitigate money laundering risks.
  • Beneficial Owner Identification: Beneficial owners must be identified and verified through proper documentation.

Regulatory Oversight

The Central Bank of Ireland is responsible for monitoring and supervising financial institutions’ compliance with their AML/CFT obligations. The act empowers the Central Bank to take measures necessary to ensure compliance with AML/CFT provisions.

Relevant Legislation

Other relevant legislation in Ireland includes:

  • Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005: Created a new offence of financing terrorism and enabled An Garda Síochána to freeze and confiscate funds used for such purposes.
  • European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019: Require companies and other legal entities to maintain accurate beneficial ownership information in an internal register.
  • European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Trusts) Regulations 2019: Oblige trustees to identify beneficiaries under the trust and maintain a beneficial ownership register.
  • European Union (Information Accompanying Transfers of Funds) Regulations 2017: Supplement the EU Funds Transfer Regulation by requiring information accompanying fund transfers.

Conclusion

Ireland’s AML/CFT framework is subject to ongoing revisions in response to changing international standards. The country’s commitment to combatting money laundering and terrorist financing is evident through its comprehensive legislation and regulatory oversight.