Royal Decree concerning the statistics to be kept under Article 71 of the Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash

FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE JUSTICE
AND FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE FINANCES
[C − 2020/31392]
30 NOVEMBER 2020. — Royal Decree concerning the statistics to be kept under Article 71 of the Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash

PHILIP, King of the Belgians,

To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting.

Having regard to the Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash, Article 71, as amended by the Law of 20 July 2020;

Having regard to the regulatory impact analysis carried out on 8 July 2020 in accordance with Articles 6 and 7 of the Law of 15 December 2013 containing various provisions concerning administrative simplification;

Having regard to the opinion of the Inspector of Finances, given on 9 July 2020;

Having regard to the agreement of the Minister of the Budget, dated 13 November 2020;

Having regard to Opinion No. 71/2020 of the Data Protection Authority, given on 24 August 2020;

Having regard to Opinion 67.815/2/V of the Council of State, given on 2 September 2020, in application of Article 84, § 1, first paragraph, 2°, of the Laws on the Council of State, coordinated on 12 January 1973;

On the proposal of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finances,

Have decided and do decide:

Article 1. This Decree provides for the partial transposition of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2006/70/EC of the Commission, and of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU.

Art. 2. For the purposes of this Decree, the following terms shall be understood as follows:

1° "Law of 18 September 2017": the Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash;

2° "AML/CFT": AML/CFT as referred to in Article 4, 1°, of the Law of 18 September 2017;

3° "FATF": the Financial Action Task Force as referred to in Article 4, 10°, of the Law of 18 September 2017;

4° "criminal activity": a criminal activity as referred to in Article 4, 23°, of the Law of 18 September 2017;

5° "subjected entity": a subjected entity as referred to in Article 5, §§ 1 and 4, of the Law of 18 September 2017;

6° "CTIF": the Cell for Financial Information Processing as referred to in Article 76 of the Law of 18 September 2017;

7° "Central Agency for Seizure and Confiscation": the Central Agency for Seizure and Confiscation as referred to in Article 4 of the Law of 4 February 2018 concerning the missions and composition of the Central Agency for Seizure and Confiscation (hereinafter referred to as the "CASC Law");

8° "supervisory authorities": the authorities referred to in Article 85 of the Law of 18 September 2017;

Art. 3. The competent authorities listed below shall each keep, for what concerns them, the statistics referred to in Article 71 of the Law of 18 September 2017:

1° the CTIF;
2° the Federal Police;
3° the College of Attorneys General;
4° the College of Courts and Tribunals;
5° the Criminal Policy Service of the Federal Public Service Justice; 6° the Central Agency for Seizure and Confiscation; 7° the General Administration of Customs and Excises of the Federal Public Service Finances; 8° the supervisory authorities.

Art. 4. The statistics referred to in Article 71 of the Law of 18 September 2017 relate to data from the preceding year. They include:

1° data concerning measurements of the size and importance of the various sectors falling within the scope of the Law of 18 September 2017, including the number of natural persons and entities and the economic importance of each sector;

2° data concerning measurements of the reporting, investigative and judicial aspects of the AML/CFT framework, including the number of suspicious transaction reports submitted to the CTIF, the follow-up given to these reports and, on an annual basis, the number of cases investigated, the number of persons prosecuted, the number of persons convicted of money laundering or terrorist financing, the types of underlying criminal activities, if such information is available, and the value in euros of the frozen, seized or confiscated assets;

3° if available, data to identify the number of reports and the percentage of reports that have led to further investigation, together with the annual report to subjected entities providing further details on the usefulness and follow-up of the reports made by them;

4° data concerning the number of cross-border information requests formulated, received, rejected and partially or fully answered by the CTIF pursuant to the provisions of Book IV, Title 5, Chapter 3, Section 1, of the Law of 18 September 2017, broken down by requesting country;

5° the human resources allocated to the competent authorities responsible for AML/CFT supervision and the human resources allocated to the CTIF to perform the tasks mentioned in Articles 79 to 82 of the Law of 18 September 2017;

6° the number of on-site and off-site supervisory activities, the number of infringements detected based on supervisory activities and the sanctions/administrative measures imposed by the supervisory authorities pursuant to the Law of 18 September 2017.

Art. 5. The Minister responsible for Justice and the Minister responsible for Finances are, each in respect of what concerns them, charged with the implementation of this Decree.

Given at Brussels, 30 November 2020.

PHILIP

By the King:

Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, responsible for the North Sea,
V. VAN QUICKENBORNE

Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Finances, responsible for the Coordination of Fraud Fighting,
V. VAN PETEGHEM