Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

Exemptions from section 33 .

34.— (1) A designated person is not required to apply the measures specified in section 33 (2) if the customer or product concerned is a specified customer or specified product, as the case may be.

(2) A credit institution is not required to apply the measures specified in section 33 (2)(b) in respect of the beneficial ownership of money held, or proposed to be held, in trust—

(a) in a client account, within the meaning of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 , or

(b) in an account for clients of a person who by way of business, provides legal or notarial services to those clients—

(i) in a Member State and who is supervised or monitored for compliance with requirements specified in the Third Money Laundering Directive, in accordance with Section 2 of Chapter V of that Directive, or

(ii) in a place that is designated under section 31 and who is supervised or monitored in the place for compliance with requirements equivalent to those specified in the Third Money Laundering Directive.

(3) A designated person shall not apply the exemptions provided for in subsections (1) and (2) in any of the following circumstances:

(a) the customer concerned is from a place that is designated under section 32 ;

(b) section 33 (1)(c) or (d) or (4) applies;

(c) the designated person is required to apply measures, in relation to the customer or beneficial owner (if any) concerned, under section 37 .

(4) A credit institution may apply the exemption provided for in subsection (2) in relation to the beneficial ownership of money held in trust in a credit institution only if the credit institution is satisfied that information on the identity of the beneficial owners of the money held in the account is available, on request, to the credit institution.

(5) For the purposes of this section, a specified customer is—

(a) a credit institution or financial institution that—

(i) carries on business in the State as a designated person,

(ii) is situated in another Member State and supervised or monitored for compliance with requirements laid down in the Third Money Laundering Directive, in accordance with Section 2 of Chapter V of that Directive, or

(iii) is situated in a place designated under section 31 and supervised or monitored in the place for compliance with requirements equivalent to those laid down in the Third Money Laundering Directive,

(b) a listed company whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market,

(c) a public body, or

(d) a body (whether incorporated or unincorporated) that—

(i) has been entrusted with public functions under a provision of the treaties of the European Communities or under an Act adopted by an institution of the European Communities,

(ii) in the reasonable opinion of the designated person concerned, the identity of the body is publicly available, transparent and certain,

(iii) in the reasonable opinion of the designated person concerned, the activities of the body and its accounting practices are transparent, and

(iv) the body is either accountable to an institution of the European Communities or to a public authority of a Member State.

(6) A reference in subsection (5) to a financial institution does not include a reference to an undertaking that is a financial institution solely because the undertaking provides either foreign exchange services or payment services, or both.

(7) For the purposes of this section, a specified product is—

(a) a life assurance policy having an annual premium of no more than €1,000 or a single premium of no more than €2,500,

(b) an insurance policy in respect of a pension scheme, being a policy that does not have a surrender clause and may not be used as collateral,

(c) a pension, superannuation or similar scheme that provides for retirement benefits to employees and where contributions to the scheme are made by deductions from wages and the rules of the scheme do not permit a member’s interest under the scheme to be assigned, or

(d) electronic money, within the meaning of the Electronic Money Directive, where—

(i) in a case where the electronic device concerned cannot be recharged, the monetary value that may be stored electronically on the device does not exceed €250 or, if the device cannot be used outside of the State, €500, or

(ii) in a case where the electronic device concerned can be recharged—

(I) the total monetary value of all amounts by which the device may be charged or recharged (or both), in any calendar year, including any initial stored value of the device on purchase if the device is purchased during the year, does not exceed €2,500, and

(II) none, or less than €1,000, of the electronic money may be redeemed by the issuer (as referred to in Article 11 of that Directive) in that year.