UMOA Uniform Law on Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

WEST AFRICAN MONETARY UNION
UNIFORM LAW ON COMBATING MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORIST FINANCING AND THE PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE WEST AFRICAN MONETARY UNION (UMOA)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE I. - GENERAL PROVISIONS 4
CHAPTER I. - OBJECT, DEFINITIONS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION 4
Section 1. - Object and definitions 4
Section 2. - Scope of application 15
Section 3. - Other general provisions 16
CHAPTER II. - CRIMINAL OFFENCES 17
TITLE II. - OBLIGATIONS OF OBLIGED ENTITIES 19
CHAPTER I. - ORGANISATION, INTERNAL CONTROL AND RISK ASSESSMENT 19
CHAPTER II. - DUE DILIGENCE OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS CLIENTS AND TRANSACTIONS 22
Section 1. - General due diligence obligations regarding clients 22
Section 2. - Due diligence obligations regarding specific persons and activities 26
Section 3. - Implementation of due diligence obligations by a third party 29
CHAPTER III. - ELECTRONIC TRANSFER OBLIGATIONS 31
Section 1. - Obligations of the ordering financial institution 31
Section 2. - Obligations of the intermediary financial institution 32
Section 3. - Obligations of the beneficiary financial institution 33
CHAPTER IV. - SPECIFIC PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO DESIGNATED NON-FINANCIAL BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS 33
CHAPTER V. - SPECIFIC PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS 35
CHAPTER VI. - SPECIFIC PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO VIRTUAL ASSET SERVICE PROVIDERS 36
CHAPTER VII. - SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS AND SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTING 37
CHAPTER VIII. - PREVENTIVE MEASURES REGARDING THE USE OF CASH 40
CHAPTER IX. - OBLIGATIONS REGARDING TRANSPARENCY OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF LEGAL PERSONS AND LEGAL ARRANGEMENTS 42
CHAPTER X. - PRACTICAL PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING DUE DILIGENCE MEASURES 44
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CHAPTER XI. - OBLIGATIONS REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TARGETED FINANCIAL SANCTIONS 45
TITLE III. - POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMPETENT AUTHORITIES 46
CHAPTER I. - REGIONAL AND NATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENTS 46
CHAPTER II. - NATIONAL FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT 47
Section 1. - Status and mission 47
Section 2. - Organisation and functioning 48
CHAPTER III. - POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF OTHER COMPETENT AUTHORITIES 52
Section 1. - Regulation and supervision 52
Section 2. - Investigations and professional secrecy 54
Section 3. - Specific provisions for the NPO sector 55
Section 4. - Specific provisions on transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements 57
Section 5. - Implementation of targeted financial sanctions 58
TITLE IV. - COOPERATION 59
CHAPTER I. - NATIONAL COOPERATION 59
CHAPTER II. - INTRACOMMUNITY COOPERATION 60
CHAPTER III. - INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 61
Section 1. - Administrative cooperation 61
Section 2. - Judicial cooperation 62
TITLE V. - REPRESSION OF MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORIST FINANCING AND PROLIFERATION FINANCING 72
CHAPTER I. - CONSERVATORY MEASURES 72
CHAPTER II. - ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES, DISCIPLINARY AND MONETARY SANCTIONS 74
CHAPTER III. - CRIMINAL SANCTIONS 75
Section 1. - Applicable penalties for money laundering 75
Section 2. - Applicable penalties for terrorist financing 75
Section 3. - Applicable penalties for proliferation financing 76
Section 4. - Common applicable penalties 77
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Section 5. - Causes for exemption and mitigation of criminal sanctions 81
Section 6. - Mandatory supplementary penalties 82
TITLE VI. - MISCELLANEOUS AND FINAL PROVISIONS 83
ANNEX. - LIST OF INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS ON COMBATING TERRORIST FINANCING, AS OF 31 JANUARY 2023 84
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TITLE I. - GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I. - OBJECT, DEFINITIONS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION
Section 1. - Object and definitions
Article 1. - Object
This law aims to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in (name of the concerned member state).

Article 2. - Definitions
For the purposes of this law, the following terms shall mean:

1. Terrorist act:
   a) an act constituting an offence under any of the international legal instruments listed in the annex to this law; b) any other act intended to kill or seriously injure a civilian, or any other person not directly participating in hostilities in an armed conflict situation, when, by its nature or context, the act is intended to intimidate a population or to compel a Government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act;
2. Virtual asset: a digital representation of value that can be exchanged or transferred by digital means. Virtual assets do not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities, and other financial assets that are subject to regulation or specific regulatory provisions;
3. Bearer shares: negotiable instruments transferable by mere delivery, representing ownership of a fraction of the share capital of a public limited company;
4. Criminal activity: any criminal or delictual act constituting a predicate offence for money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, namely:
   a) participation in an organised criminal group and participation in racketeering; b) terrorism, including its financing; c) human trafficking and illicit trafficking in migrants; d) sexual exploitation, including the abduction and exploitation of minors; e) illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; f) illicit trafficking in arms; g) illicit trafficking in stolen goods and other goods; h) corruption and extortion; i) misappropriation of funds by public officials; j) fraud; 4 k) counterfeiting of currency; l) counterfeiting of goods, including currency or banknotes, and piracy of products; m) trafficking in human organs; n) environmental offences; o) murder and serious bodily injury; p) kidnapping, hostage-taking, and abduction; q) theft; r) smuggling, including notably concerning taxes, customs duties, and excise duties; s) tax offences; t) extortion; u) forgery and use of forged documents; v) piracy; w) insider dealing and market manipulation; x) any other crime or offence;
5. UMOA-CMA: the UMOA Capital Markets Authority;
6. Competent authority: the body that, by virtue of a treaty, law, or regulation, is empowered to carry out or order the acts or measures provided for by this law;
7. Supervisory authorities: the competent authorities empowered by a treaty, law, or regulation to ensure that obliged entities comply with their obligations regarding the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as set forth by this law and the implementing texts. Supervisory authorities notably include financial sector supervisory authorities and non-financial sector supervisory authorities, including self-regulatory organisations;
8. Prosecuting authority: the body that, by virtue of a law or regulation, is invested, even occasionally, with the mission of exercising public prosecution;
9. Judicial authority: the body empowered, by virtue of a law or regulation, to carry out acts of prosecution or investigation or to render judicial decisions;
10. Public authorities: national administrations and those of local government bodies within the Union, as well as public institutions and similar bodies;
11. Shell bank: a bank that has been incorporated and licensed in a state where it has no physical presence and is not affiliated with a regulated financial group subject to effective consolidated supervision. The expression physical presence refers to the presence of management and decision-making power in a country. The mere physical presence of a local agent or subordinate staff does not constitute a physical presence;
12. Beneficial owner(s): the natural person(s) who, ultimately, own or control the client, the client's mandate holder, or the beneficiary of life insurance contracts, and/or the natural person(s) for whom a transaction is executed or a business relationship is established. The following are considered as ultimately owning or controlling the client, the client's mandate holder, or the beneficiary of a legal person or legal arrangement:
    a) in the case of a company, the natural person(s) who either hold, directly or indirectly, more than twenty-five percent of the share capital or voting rights of the company, or exercise, by any other means, control power over the management, administration, or directing bodies of the company or over its general meeting of shareholders; b) in the case of a collective investment scheme, the natural person(s) who either hold, directly or indirectly, more than twenty-five percent of the shares or units of the scheme, or exercise control power over the administration or directing bodies of the collective investment scheme or, where applicable, the management company or portfolio management company representing it; c) in the case of a legal person that is neither a company nor a collective investment scheme, or when the client acts within the framework of a trust or any other comparable legal arrangement governed by foreign law, the natural person(s) who meet one of the following conditions:
    i. they are destined, by virtue of a legal act designating them for this purpose, to become holders of rights covering at least twenty-five percent of the assets of the legal person or the assets transferred to a trust patrimony or any other comparable legal arrangement governed by foreign law;
    ii. they belong to a group in whose primary interest the legal person, trust, or any other comparable legal arrangement governed by foreign law was formed or produced its effects, when the natural persons who are the beneficiaries have not yet been designated;
    iii. they hold rights covering at least twenty-five percent of the assets of the legal person, trust, or any other comparable legal arrangement governed by foreign law;
    iv. they hold the status of settlor, trustee, or beneficiary, in accordance with the legislative and regulatory texts in force;
13. BCEAO: the Central Bank of West African States;
14. AML/CFT/FP: Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing;
15. Property: assets of any nature, corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, fungible or non-fungible, as well as documents or legal instruments in any form whatsoever, including electronic or digital, attesting ownership of such assets or rights related thereto, as well as interests in said assets, notably including credits, traveller's cheques, cheques, money orders, shares, securities, bonds, bills of exchange or letters of credit, as well as any potential interests, dividends, or other revenues or value derived from or generated by such assets;
16. Money laundering: the offence defined in Article 9;
17. Certificate of deposit: a registered or bearer instrument, issued by a financial institution, representing an interest-bearing loan and repayable by its issuer at a fixed maturity;
18. FIU: the National Financial Intelligence Unit;
19. CIMA: the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets;
20. Occasional client: any person who approaches one of the obliged entities, with the exclusive purpose of preparing or carrying out a one-off transaction or being assisted in the preparation or execution of such a transaction, whether carried out in a single transaction or in several transactions appearing to be linked. The notion of occasional client excludes the existence of an account opened in the client's name in the books of the obliged entity subject to this law;
21. Pass-through accounts: correspondent accounts that are used directly by third parties to carry out transactions for their own account;
22. Confiscation: the definitive deprivation of property, by decision of a competent court or any competent authority;
23. Legal arrangements: express trusts or similar legal arrangements;
24. Correspondent banking: commercial relationships between a credit institution established in... (indicate the name of the member state adopting this law) and a credit institution established in a third country;
25. FIUs: Financial Intelligence Units;
26. Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions or DNFBPs:
    a) casinos, including online casinos, gaming establishments, including national lotteries, as well as owners, directors, and managers of these structures; b) real estate companies, real estate developers, and real estate agents, including letting agents; c) persons habitually engaged in the trade or organisation of the sale of precious stones, precious metals, or cultural goods, notably antiques and works of art; d) independent legal professions, notably lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, judicial administrators, judicial representatives, judicial auctioneers, and other members of independent legal professions, when they:
    i. participate, on behalf of their client or for their account, in any financial or real estate transaction;
    ii. assist their client in the preparation or execution of transactions involving:

1. the purchase and sale of immovable property or commercial enterprises;
2. the management of funds, securities, or other assets belonging to the client;
3. the opening or management of savings accounts or portfolios, including securities accounts;
4. the organisation of contributions necessary for the formation, management, or direction of companies;
5. the formation, management, or direction of companies, trusts, or similar legal arrangements;
6. the formation or management of foundations or similar structures;
   e) accounting professions, notably chartered accountants, certified accountants, statutory auditors, and any person who provides assistance or advice in tax matters as a remunerated activity; f) corporate and trust service providers not covered by point d) or e), who provide the following services commercially to third parties:
   i. by acting, as an agent, for the formation, registration, and management of legal persons, notably trusts;
   ii. by acting or making the necessary arrangements so that another person acts, as an administrator or director of a public limited company, a partner in a partnership, or a holder of a similar function for other legal persons;
   iii. by providing a registered office, business address, or premises, an administrative or postal address to a public limited company, a partner in a partnership, or any other legal person or legal structure;
   iv. by acting or making the necessary arrangements so that another person acts, as an administrator of an express trust, or a holder of a similar function for other legal persons;
   v. by acting or making the necessary arrangements so that another person acts, as a shareholder acting on behalf of another person;
   g) dealers in new and used vehicles as well as vehicle rental agents; h) other natural or legal persons trading in goods, only to the extent that payments are made or received in cash for an amount set by the competent authority, whether the transaction is executed in a single operation or in the form of apparently linked fractional operations; i) operators of voluntary public auctions of movable property; j) professional sports clubs, sports federations, sports agents, and sports event promoters; k) cultural event promoters; l) cash-in-transit companies; m) security companies; n) travel agencies; o) hotels;

27. Member State: the State party to the Treaty of the West African Monetary Union and the Treaty of the West African Economic and Monetary Union;
28. Third country: any State other than a Member State of the Union;
29. Trust: the operation by which one or more settlors transfer assets, rights, or securities, or a set of assets, rights, or securities, present or future, to one or more trustees who, holding them separate from their own estate, act for a determined purpose for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries;
30. Proliferation financing or proliferation financing: the offence defined in Article 11;
31. Terrorist financing: the offence defined in Article 10;
32. Funds and other economic and financial resources: all financial assets and economic benefits of any nature whatsoever, including, but not exclusively, cash, cheques, cash claims, bills of exchange, payment orders, and other payment instruments, deposits with financial institutions, account balances, claims and debt instruments, traded securities and debt instruments, notably shares and other participation securities, share certificates, bonds, promissory notes, warrants, unsecured securities, derivatives contracts, interests, dividends, or other revenues from assets or capital gains received on assets, credit, the right to set-off, guarantees, including performance guarantees or other financial commitments, letters of credit, bills of lading, sales contracts, any document attesting the holding of shares in a fund or financial resources, and any other export financing instrument;
33. FATF: the Financial Action Task Force;
34. Freeze:
    a) in the context of confiscation and provisional measures, the prohibition on the transfer, conversion, disposal, or movement of any property, equipment, or instrument following a measure taken by a competent authority or a court within the framework of a freeze mechanism, and this, for the duration of the validity of said measure, or until a confiscation decision is taken by a competent authority; b) for the purposes of implementing targeted financial sanctions recommendations, the prohibition on the transfer, conversion, disposal, or movement of all funds and other assets held or controlled by designated persons or entities following a measure taken by the United Nations Security Council or a competent authority or a court in accordance with applicable Security Council resolutions, and this, for the duration of the validity of said measure;
35. GIABA: the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa;
36. Group: a set composed of a parent company, its subsidiaries, and the entities in which the parent company or its subsidiaries exercise exclusive control, joint control, or significant influence;
37. Organised criminal group: an organisation composed of at least three persons, acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious offences to derive, directly or indirectly, a financial, material, or other advantage;
38. Financial group: a group exercising predominantly financial activities;
39. Senior management: persons who exercise important functions within or on behalf of a company or organisation, notably directors, members of the board of directors, and all persons exercising equivalent functions;
40. Predicate offence: any offence, even committed on the territory of another member state or a third country, that generates proceeds from criminal activity;
41. Financial institution: any person or entity established in a member state of the Union that exercises, on a commercial basis, one or more of the following activities or operations on behalf and for the account of a client:
    a) acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public; b) lending, including consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring with or without recourse, trade financing; c) financial leasing, except financial leasing relating to consumer products; d) money or value transfer; e) issuance and management of payment instruments; f) granting guarantees and underwriting commitments; g) trading in:
    i. money market instruments;
    ii. foreign exchange, interest rate, and index instruments;
    iii. securities;
    iv. commodity options and futures markets;
    h) participation in securities issues and provision of related financial services; i) individual and collective wealth management; j) safekeeping and administration of securities, in cash or liquid form, for the account of others; k) other investment, administration, or fund or money management operations for the account of others; l) underwriting and placement of life and non-life insurance products and other investment products linked to insurance; m) manual foreign exchange; n) any other activities or operations determined by the competent authority; The following are designated as financial institutions:
    a) credit institutions; b) financial companies; c) payment institutions; d) electronic money institutions; e) decentralised financial systems or microfinance institutions; f) central structures of the Regional Financial Market, notably the Regional Securities Exchange and the Central Securities Depository/Settlement Bank; g) market participants of the Regional Financial Market, notably Management and Intermediation Companies, Wealth Management Companies, Stock Investment Advisory Firms, Collective Investment Schemes in Securities, and Business Originators; h) postal financial services, as well as savings