German Financial Market Digitalisation Act
Proposed amendment of the German Money Laundering Act (GwG)
The German Money Laundering Act of June 23, 2017 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 1822), last amended by Article 8 of the Act of May 31, 2023 (Federal Law Gazette 2023 I No. 140), is amended as follows:
In the table of contents, the following entry is inserted after the entry for § 15:
„§ 15a Enhanced due diligence for the transfer of crypto values to or from a self-hosted address“
§ 1 is amended as follows:
Paragraph 28 is amended as follows:
In number 1, the period at the end is replaced by a semicolon.
In number 3, the period at the end is replaced by a semicolon.
The following numbers 4 and 5 are added:
„4. Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 refers to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 31, 2023 on the transmission of information on fund transfers and certain crypto-asset transfers and amending Directive 2015/849 (OJ L 150 of 9.6.2023, p. 1); Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 refers to Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 31, 2023 on markets for crypto-assets and amending Regulations (EU) No. 1093/2010 and (EU) No. 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L 150 of 9.6.2023, p. 40).“
Paragraph 29 is reworded as follows:
„(29) For the purposes of this Act, crypto-assets are crypto-assets as defined in Article 3 number 14 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1113.“
Paragraph 30 is reworded as follows:
„(30) For the purposes of this Act, the transfer of crypto-assets is any crypto-asset transfer as defined in Article 3 number 10 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1113.“
The following paragraphs 31 to 33 are added:
„(31) Crypto-asset service providers for the purposes of this Act are providers of crypto-asset services as defined in Article 3(1) number 15 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, if they provide one or more crypto-asset services as defined in Article 3(1) number 16 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, except for advice on crypto-assets as referred to in Article 3(1) number 16 letter h of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. Issuers of asset-referenced tokens for the purposes of this Act are issuers of asset-referenced tokens as defined in Article 16(1) letter a of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, who do not exclusively offer asset-referenced tokens to the public through a provider of crypto-asset services or do not exclusively apply for admission to trading through a provider of crypto-asset services. Self-hosted address for the purposes of this Act is a self-hosted address as defined in Article 3 number 20 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1113.“
In § 2 paragraph 1 number 2, the word „and“ is replaced by a comma and the words „as well as providers of crypto-asset services and issuers of asset-referenced tokens“ are inserted after the word „abroad“.
After § 6 paragraph 4, the following paragraph 4a is inserted:
„(4a) Providers of crypto-asset services shall take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/1113.“
§ 8 sentence 1 is amended as follows:
In number 4, the word „and“ is replaced by a comma.
In number 5, the period at the end is replaced by the word „and“.
The following number 6 is added:
„6. the decision of an obliged entity on the termination of a cross-border correspondent banking relationship for reasons of prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing.“
§ 15 paragraph 7 is supplemented by the following sentence:
„In the case of a cross-border correspondent relationship between providers of crypto-asset services, the obliged entity shall additionally obtain information on the licensing or registration of the respondent in addition to the enhanced due diligence obligations according to sentence 1 number 1.“
After § 15, the following § 15a is inserted:
„§ 15a Enhanced due diligence obligations for the transfer of crypto-assets to or from a self-hosted address Obliged entities.“.
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