Law amending the Luxembourg criminal law framework in relation to money laundering
22/12/2021
On 20 December 2021, the law of 17 December 2021 (the “Law”) was published in the Official Journal of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
On 20 December 2021, the law of 17 December 2021 (the “Law”) was published in the Official Journal of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
The Luxembourg Parliament has adopted a law of 25 February 2021 (the “Law”) which notably amends the law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing (the “2004 Law”).
Les entreprises assujetties à la loi du 12 novembre 2004 relative à la lutte contre le blanchiment et le financement du terrorisme, ont été au fil du temps contraintes par le législateur à participer de plus en plus activement à la lutte CBL/FT.
The Luxembourg law of 23 December 2016 on the 2017 tax reform (the TRL) extends the money laundering predicate offence to aggravated tax fraud (fraude fiscale aggravée) and tax swindling (escroquerie fiscale). More specifically, such law transposes the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards dating back to 2012/2013 and Directive 2015/849/EC of 20 May 2015 relating to the prevention of the financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/TF).
Le “paquet fiscal” que vient de dévoiler le gouvernement comprend d’abord la création d’une nouvelle infraction fiscale : la fraude fiscale aggravée.
Considering the increase in terrorist attacks, the legislator has decided to strengthen Luxembourg’s criminal procedure by introducing draft law N° 6921 (“Draft Law”), inspired by Belgian and French Law. This strengthening can be summarised as follows.
On the one hand, with regard to offenses relating to terrorism, financing of terrorism and crimes against state security, the Draft Law provides for the following:
Having been published on 5 June 2015, the latest anti-money laundering Directive (EU) 2015/849 (“AMLD IV”), which shall be transposed into national law and which shall become applicable on 26 June 2017, foresees a stronger framework for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.