In March 2018, Bulgaria adopted a new anti money-laundering law (Закон за мерки срещу изпиране на пари / Anti Money Laundering Act).
The new law transposes the Fourth European Union Money Laundering Directive (MLD4) adopted on the 20th May 2015. Rules for the Implementation of Anti Money Laundering Act are to be adopted additionally, in 5 months term as of the entry into force of the new legislative act.
The changes aim at the following:
- prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing;
- prevention of corruption;
- as well as at more effective risk assessment;
- increased powers of the competent national institutions in relation analysis and exchange of information.
Key changes introduced by the new Anti Money Laundering Act:
- Complex assessment
The Act presents an exhaustive list of the full range of prevention measures. There is a definition for complex assessment, which includes identification of the clients and evaluation of their identification which is executed under explicitly written rules.
- Public registers
In connection to this, information for the beneficial owner is supposed to be collected and supplied to a public register, because of which many changes occur in other acts such as: Commerce Act, Act on Non-Profit Legal Entities, Act on Cooperatives, Act on The BULSTAT Register.
- Risk assessment
A new obligation of high importance is the performance of risk assessment regarding money laundering and financing terrorism. The State Agency for National Security prepares and publishes criteria for the aforementioned risk assessment.
Internal control and prevention of money laundering rules are determined by the level of the risk.
The new law envisages risk assessments on supranational and national level.
- Financial penalties
The amount of the financial and property penalties is increased and may go up to BGN 10 000 (ca. EUR 5000).
Supervisory authority:
The compliance of individuals and legal entities with the new rules continues to be monitored by the State Agency for National Security.
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This publication is written in the context of Bulgarian legislation, effective on July 05, 2018.Please note that future amendments in the relevant legislative acts, court decisions or opinions of official authorities or other sources of legal obligations, which became effective after the quoted date, may affect the accuracy of the information above. This is one-time publication and Prosperamo is not responsible to keep it up-to-date. For more information – please read the following disclaimer.
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