Anti-Money Laundering, Ethics, and Professional Discipline
AML duties for notaries
Notaries are gatekeepers. Know the core obligations: customer due diligence (identify the client and the beneficial owner), risk assessment, ongoing monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting suspicious transactions to the financial intelligence unit. Understand when enhanced due diligence applies - politically exposed persons, high-risk jurisdictions, complex structures, cash-intensive deals - and the rule that the notary must not tip off the client.
Traps
(1) Assuming AML duties apply only to banks. (2) Treating identification of the nominal client as sufficient when a beneficial owner is hidden behind a company. (3) Believing the notary may complete the act first and report afterwards when suspicion is already present. (4) Confusing the duty to report with a duty to investigate - the notary reports, the FIU investigates.
Ethics
Core values: independence, impartiality, confidentiality, integrity, avoidance of conflicts of interest, and dignified conduct. Know the rules on advertising, on fees (no unlawful inducements), and on refusing an act that would facilitate illegality.
Discipline
Know the grounds (breach of law, of professional rules, of ethics), the procedure before the Chamber's disciplinary body, the sanctions (warning, reprimand, fine, suspension, removal), and the right to judicial appeal. Trap: confusing a disciplinary sanction with criminal liability - they can coexist.
Rule of thumb
'Identify → Assess risk → Enhance if needed → Report if suspicious → Never tip off.' Suspicion is enough to report; proof is not required.
Worked example: A client asks a notary to certify a sale at a price far below market, paid in cash by a third party with no apparent link to the parties. The notary must apply enhanced due diligence, identify the beneficial owner, and, if suspicion remains, refrain from the act and report to the FIU without informing the client.