Section 40 GwG – Urgent measures

(1) 1If the German Financial Intelligence Unit has indications that a transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, or if it receives a report under Article 23(2) of Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1509 of 30 August 2017 concerning restrictive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it may prohibit the execution of the transaction in order to investigate the indications and analyse the transaction. 2It may also, subject to the conditions set out in sentence 1,

  1. prohibit an obliged entity under section 2 (1) nos. 1 to 3 from
    a) executing dispositions in relation to an account or securities account held with it, and
    b) executing other financial transactions,
  2. instruct an obliged entity under section 2 (1) no. 1 to deny access to a safety deposit box to the contracting party and all other persons with a right of disposal, or
  3. issue other orders to an obliged entity in relation to a transaction.
    (2) 1Measures under subsection (1) may be taken by the German Financial Intelligence Unit on the basis of a request from a Financial Intelligence Unit of another country. 2A request is required to contain the information specified in section 35 (3). 3The German Financial Intelligence Unit should set out appropriately the reasons for rejecting a request.
    (3) Measures under subsection (1) are rescinded by the German Financial Intelligence Unit as soon as or insofar as the conditions for the measures are no longer met.
    (4) Measures under subsection (1) end
  4. no later than one month following the ordering of the measures by the German Financial Intelligence Unit,
  5. at the end of the fifth working day after the matter was passed on to the competent law enforcement agency; Saturday is not to be treated as a working day, or
  6. at an earlier date if such a date has been determined by the German Financial Intelligence Unit.
    (5) The German Financial Intelligence Unit may release property which is subject to a measure under subsection (1), sentence 2, at the request of the person concerned or an association without legal capacity, insofar as this property serves one of the following purposes:
  7. the covering of the basic needs of the person or the person’s family members,
  8. the payment of pensions or maintenance, or
  9. comparable purposes.
    (6) 1The obliged entity or another adversely affected party may lodge an objection to measures under subsection (1). 2The objection has no suspensory effect.