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Executive Regulations 

The new APML stipulates a total of 11 executive regulations, eight of which are obligatory and three are optional. The Minister of Finance is responsible for issuing all executive regulations except the act on the changing of Tolar amounts, which is issued by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. All eight obligatory executive regulations pursuant to the new APML have already entered into force. These are:

The three optional executive regulations stipulated by the APML are:
  • Act on the changing of Tolar amounts.
  • Regulation on the omission of the identification of a client during the execution of certain transactions, when the authorised person is one of the organisations referred to in Article 2 of the APML.
  • Regulation on the compulsory inclusion of individual indicators on the list for the identification of suspicious transactions.

 

Brief summary of the contents of the eight executive regulations currently in force

 

Directive on the organisations, which do not have to be identified during the execution of certain transactions

This Directive is intended, above all, to exculpate certain liable subjects (organisations) in the area of the conducting of identification. The Directive determines those organisations, which are, themselves, also under obligation to implement the provisions of the APML and which in certain cases (specific transactions) do not have to be identified. In accordance with the seventh paragraph of Article 3 of the European Council Directive No. 91/308/EEC, this allows for the exculpation of the liable subjects regarding client identification in all those cases of transactions or clients which are not relevant to the prevention of money laundering and in cases which could lead to unnecessary duplication in the gathering of data on the same clients or transactions.

In comparison to the prior regulation the following organizations are added to the list of organizations where identification isn’t required in the execution of specific transactions: savings and credit houses, companies for management of investment funds, founders and managers of mutual pension funds. Furthermore branches of foreign banks are no longer listed among the organizations where identification isn’t required in the execution of specific transactions on the grounds that there is a special executive regulation which defines credit and financial institutions with head offices in European Union Member States or in those countries which respect standards in the area of the prevention and detection of money laundering. This directive was issued and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 94/02.

Directive on the method of forwarding information to the Office for Money Laundering Prevention of the Republic of Slovenia (together with the forms, appendix and instructions on the manner of filling in the forms which are a constitutive part of the Instructions)

This executive regulation is intended for prescribing the methods of forwarding data in case of information which the organisations referred to in Article 2 of the APML must forward to the Office for Money Laundering Prevention (hereinafter referred to as the Office) on the basis of the first and second paragraph of Article 10 of the APML and in case of information whereby grounds exist to suspect money laundering in connection with a transaction or client (third paragraph of Article 10). A constitutive part of the executive regulation are the forms and appendix to the forms with which the organisations forward the statutory stipulated data to the Office. It is also stated explicitly in the Directive, that a constitutive part of this Executive Regulation are also the instructions on the manner of filling in the forms, intended to help the organisations when filling in the forms.

Directive on the determination of the conditions under which the organisations referred to in Article 2 of the Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering shall not be obliged to forward information on cash transactions executed by certain clients

The Directive is intended to exculpate certain organisations regarding the forwarding of data to the Office as well as to disburden the Office. This allows for the exclusion from the system of forwarding information, all those transactions which have no relevance to the prevention and detection of money laundering (for example the forwarding of information on the daily revenue of petrol stations or big trading enterprises).

This directive varies from the previous regulation in Article 2 (point 4) as the list of organizations where clients deposit day’s takings (banks, savings banks, organizations performing payment transactions) is completed with savings and credit houses where service is almost identical as in the above-mentioned organizations.

Directive on authorised persons, the method of conducting internal control, the safekeeping and protection of data, the keeping of records and expert training of the staff in organisations, lawyers’ offices, law firms, notaries public’s offices, audit companies, independent auditors’ offices and legal or natural persons providing accountancy services or tax advisory services

This executive regulation determines the minimum standards for the implementation of internal control, for the determination of the status and competences of the authorised person, for the safekeeping and protection of data, the keeping of records and expert training of the staff in organisations. Due to their special status proceeding from the nature of their work which, under the APML, makes them liable subjects, the Directive determines, standards concerning the safekeeping and protection of data, the keeping of records and expert training and the preparation of a list of indicators for identifying suspicious transactions, for lawyers, law firms, notaries public, audit companies, independent auditors offices and legal or natural persons providing accountancy services or tax advisory services. All the detailed rules transcending the minimum standards are regulated by the organisations and the other liable subjects mentioned above by their internal acts. The autonomy enjoyed by the liable persons in this field, is established also in the majority of the European countries, which have legislation concerning the prevention and detection of money laundering. Most importantly, this regulation is in compliance with the constitutional principle of economic freedom, which in itself prohibits disproportionate and excessive state interference in the internal operation, structure and organisation of economic enterprises and other subjects participating on the market. The regulation defines the implementation of internal control in the organisations referred to in Article 2 of the Act, determining in detail the purpose of conducting the control and stating the tasks, which the internal control must cover (the implementation of statutory obligations). In continuation, the provisions of the regulation concern the preparation of the list of indicators for identifying suspicious transactions, including a detailed specification of whom the indicators for identifying suspicious transactions are meant for, who participates in their preparation, and which principles need to be taken into consideration during their preparation. A very important set of the provisions regulates the status, duties and competencies of the authorised person and one or more deputy-authorised persons in relation, both to the Office for Money Laundering Prevention and to the organisation in which they are employed. The method of the safekeeping of data, the keeping of records and protection of confidential information is, normally, a subject of the internal acts of the organisations and the other liable subjects. It is provided that data must be kept in chronological order and in a way that enables access throughout the period of their safekeeping, as stipulated by law. A novelty is introduced in Article 19, which requires liable subjects to keep separate records on the access of data classified under the provisions of the APML as confidential, and to send written notification to the Office within three days, about the inspection of the data by control authorities. The provisions governing expert training are general and summarise the obligations stipulated by the APML while determining in more detail, the timetables for the preparation of the programmes and contents of expert training and education. On the basis of this Directive, organisations and the other liable subjects must harmonise their internal acts within 90 days of the entering into force of this Directive.

Directive on the method of forwarding data by lawyers, law firms, notaries public’s offices, audit companies, independent auditors and legal or natural persons providing accountancy services or tax advisory services, to the Office for Money Laundering Prevention of the Republic of Slovenia

This executive regulation binds lawyers, law firms, notaries public’s offices, audit companies, independent auditors and legal or natural persons providing accountancy services or tax advisory services, and is intended for determining the method and form of forwarding data to the Office, on transactions and persons in connection with whom grounds exist to suspect money laundering, on the basis of Article 28 of the APML. This executive regulation constitutes also of a form, an appendix to the form and instructions on the manner of filling in the form intended to help the liable subjects mentioned above when filling in the forms.

Directive on credit or financial institutions with headquarters in the European Union or in those countries which, according to information from international organisations or other competent international subjects, respect international standards concerning the prevention and detection of money laundering and do not have to be identified in the execution of certain transactions

In the preparation of the directive which determines the credit or financial institutions with headquarters in the European Union or in those countries which, according to information from international organisations or other competent international subjects, respect international standards concerning the prevention and detection of money laundering, consideration was given to the provisions of Directive 2000/12/EC. The Directive relates only to those credit and financial institutions seated in European Union Member States for which it is guaranteed that they are appropriately controlled by the competent control bodies within the individual member state and which are obliged to comply with the regulations concerning the prevention of money laundering.

Directive on the determination of the list of countries which do not respect the standards concerning the prevention and detection of money laundering (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 72/05)

This executive regulation is directly linked to the third paragraph of Article 9.a of the APML, which determines that with reference to the client, who is a non-resident, the identification on the basis of the first paragraph of Article 9.a (“non face to face” identification) may be performed only when the client is a Slovene citizen or a resident of a country which pays regard to standards in the area of prevention and detection of money laundering. Therefore this directive determines those countries which residents cannot open an account or establish a permanent business relationship in the Republic of Slovenia with out being present in person.

In drawing up the list of countries which do not respect the standards concerning the prevention of money laundering, the judgement and findings of three important international organisations were taken into consideration in the field of the prevention and detection of money laundering (Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures - MONEYVAL, the EGMONT group and Financial Action Task Force - FATF). Taken into consideration too, were the findings of the Office for Money Laundering Prevention of the Republic of Slovenia. The list of the countries included in this Directive is based on one of the following criteria:

  • the country has not introduced or prepared legislation concerning the prevention of money laundering or the legislation is inadequate and, as such, cannot comply with the standards in the field of prevention of money laundering,
  • the country is not a member of the international EGMONT group as it has not established an office for the detection and prevention of money laundering or such office doesn’t have effective mechanisms for performing tasks in the field of detection and prevention of money laundering,
  • the country is listed among non-cooperating states of the FATF organisation,
  • the procedure has been applied to the country at the Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures – MONEYVAL for not complying with international standards in the field of detection and prevention of money laundering.
Off shore areas are not specially excluded from this Directive since they are already excluded on the basis of the provisions of the APML.

Directive on the identification of a client on opening an account or establishing a permanent business relation without the presence of the client

The possibility of the introduction in national legislations of “non face to face” identification was first provided for by the European Commission Directive No. 2001/97/EC, which was taken into account in the preparation of this Directive.

Individual countries regulate the field of opening accounts from a long distance in various ways, but certainly as an exception. Basically in most European Union Member States, direct contact with the client still remains the fundamental rule in the opening of an account and establishing of a business relation. The APML determines in Article 9.a, the general conditions for opening accounts and concluding business relations from a distance. This Directive determines those “persons of trust” who may, instead of the organisations referred to in Article 2 of the APML, perform the identification and only under certain conditions. Identification may, thus, be performed solely by diplomatic-consular representatives, notaries public, a banker’s correspondent of a bank seated in the Republic of Slovenia and the branch of a domestic bank abroad.

The Directive distinguishes between non-residents and residents. The residents, who are state bodies, organisations with public authorisations or other organisations referred to in Article 2 of the APML, may be identified solely by a notary public seated in the Republic of Slovenia.

The Directive also prescribes the method of obtaining the prescribed data from the broker and the possibility for the organisation to use, in addition to the methods described hereof, also other methods for the verification or acquisition of data on a client.