Anti-Money Laundering and Record-Keeping Obligations
Status as obliged entity
Notaries are obliged entities under anti-money-laundering law. Know the obligations: customer due diligence, identification and verification of the client and the beneficial owner, risk assessment, ongoing monitoring, reporting of suspicious transactions to the competent authority, and the prohibition on tipping off.
Enhanced and simplified measures
Understand when enhanced due diligence applies (politically exposed persons, high-risk jurisdictions, complex structures) and when simplified measures may be used. Know the rules on reliance on third parties and on outsourcing, which are limited.
Record-keeping
Know the retention periods for records and documents, the form in which they must be kept, and the duty to provide them to the supervisory authority on request. Understand the interplay with notarial secrecy: reporting duties prevail over confidentiality toward the client but must be exercised within the statutory framework.
Traps and a rule of thumb
Traps: assuming identification of the client suffices without identifying the beneficial owner; confusing suspicion with proof; and forgetting that the notary must not disclose a report to the client. Rule of thumb: for every file, ask (1) who is the client, (2) who really owns the entity, (3) what is the risk level, and (4) has anything been recorded and, if needed, reported.