On 11 February, STEP Europe held a webinar to examine how various jurisdictions have transposed the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), and particularly how those Member States have chosen to define a business relationship.
The panel included Stéphanie Auferil TEP from France; Dr Petra Camilleri from Malta; Aileen Keogan TEP from Ireland; Filippo Noseda TEP from the UK; Paolo Panico TEP from Luxembourg; and Nicola Saccardo TEP from Italy; with Dr Anthony Cremona TEP moderating. The event was sponsored by IQEQ.
Many trustees based in the EU, and other jurisdictions with regulations similar to the EU’s central Register of Beneficial Ownership (RBO), are familiar with the need to register trusts. The details are sent to the competent authority and disclose information on all persons who fall within the definition of ‘beneficiary’, with respect to trusts in the appropriate RBO form. However, non-EU-based trustees are less likely to be familiar with the new requirement to also have the trust registered when the trustee enters into a business relationship in the EU, whilst in a number of countries EU based trustees have already been required to register (France).
The panel members each explained how their own countries have implemented the following provision from the Official Journal of the European Union regarding article 31, as covered in this discussion document (pdf).
Some of the key updates per jurisdiction were:
Ireland: It still has not implemented 5AMLD as the legislation does not yet fully transpose 5AMLD. It is difficult to see how it would work in the country, due to the number of trusts to be found in many aspects of society (house purchases, pensions and to protect the vulnerable) and how the directive would affect daily life. Ireland has already removed statutory trusts, unit trusts and pension trusts from the definition of an express trust, though further clarification is needed. However as yet there has been no carve-out for trusts known already to be of minimum risk, such as those for the vulnerable and charities.
Italy: The RBO of trusts is not yet operative and the legislation refers to implementing provisions which have been made available in draft for public consultation, but not yet issued. Under the legislation, trusts have an obligation to register non-EU trustees either for a business relationship under the EU directive, or if under Italian law, trusts have tax consequences pursuant to Article 73 of the Income Tax Code. The draft implementing provisions are being considered and will cover both resident trusts and non-resident trusts with Italian source income/gains.
France: The country already had reporting obligations from 2011 for EU or non EU trustees and those with French connections (such as resident settlor or beneficiary or French situs assets). It transposed 5AMLD in February 2020 and extended reporting to non-EU trustees acquiring French real estate or entering into a business relationship in France.
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