What is AMLD6 and when is it enforced?

The EU's sixth anti-money laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/1673), also known as AMLD6, updates both AMLD4 and AMLD5, broadens the scope of criminal liability to legal professionals, introduces maximum jail sentences of 4 years, updates the list of predicate offences and imposes tougher penalties for AML transgressors. AMLD6 has a self-imposed deadline of 3 December 2020 for countries to transpose its measures into local law. Regulated entities have a deadline of 3rd June 2021.<br/><br/>

The UK has already decided to opt out of introducing AMLD6 into domestic legislation as the UK Government assesses that legislation is already largely compliant with the Directive’s measures and in many cases “the UK already goes much further”.