Royal Decree on Statistics to be Kept Pursuant to Article 71 of the Law of 18 September 2017 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and the Limitation of Cash Use

FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE JUSTICE AND FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE FINANCES [C − 2020/31392] 30 NOVEMBER 2020. — Royal Decree concerning the statistics to be kept pursuant to 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, present and to come, Greetings.

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 Budget, given on 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 Finance,

We have decided and 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 purpose 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 Commission Directive 2006/70/EC, 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 purpose 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 shall be understood:

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 referred to in Article 4, 1°, of the Law of 18 September 2017;

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

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

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

6° "CTIF": the Financial Information Processing Unit 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 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 "OCSC 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, insofar as they are concerned, keep 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 Finance; 8° the supervisory authorities.

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

1° data measuring the size and importance of the different 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 measuring 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 frozen, seized, or confiscated assets;

3° where available, data to identify the number and percentage of reports that have led to further investigation, together with the annual report to subject 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 identified 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 Finance shall each, insofar as they are concerned, be responsible for 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 Finance, responsible for the Coordination of Fraud Fighting, V. VAN PETEGHEM