Under the Act of 1 March 2018 on Counteracting Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1115, as amended), obligations related to counteracting money laundering and terrorism financing have been imposed on a number of businesses. This includes the obligation to implement appropriate anti-money laundering procedures and is the responsibility of entities that have the status of obligated institutions within the meaning of the aforementioned Act.

First of all, it is crucial to verify the scope of the entity's activities in order to determine whether a given entity is an obligated institution within the meaning of the provisions of the AML Act and whether there is a need to implement the necessary procedures in a given organization.

To answer this question, the definition of an obligated institution must be clarified. Pursuant to Article 2, Section 1 of the AML Act, obligated institutions are:

  1. domestic banks, branches of foreign banks, branches of credit institutions, financial institutions having their registered office in the territory of the Republic of Poland and branches of financial institutions not having their registered office in the territory of the Republic of Poland, within the meaning of the Act of 29 August 1997 – Banking Law (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 2187, 2243 and 2354 and of 2019, items 326, 730 and 875);
  2. cooperative savings and credit unions and the National Cooperative Savings and Credit Union, within the meaning of the Act of 5 November 2009 on cooperative savings and credit unions (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 2386 and 2243 and of 2019, items 326, 730 and 875);
  3. national payment institutions, national electronic money institutions, branches of EU payment institutions, branches of EU and foreign electronic money institutions, small payment institutions, payment service offices and settlement agents, within the meaning of the Act of 19 August 2011 on payment services (Journal of Laws of 2019, items 659 and 730);
  4. investment firms, custodian banks within the meaning of the Act of 29 July 2005 on Trading in Financial Instruments (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 2286, 2243 and 2244 and of 2019, items 730 and 875) and branches of foreign investment firms within the meaning of this Act, conducting business in the territory of the Republic of Poland;
  5. foreign legal entities conducting brokerage activities in the territory of the Republic of Poland, including those conducting such activities in the form of a branch, and commodity brokerage houses within the meaning of the Act of 26 October 2000 on commodity exchanges (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 312), as well as commercial companies referred to in Article 50a of that Act;
  6. companies operating a regulated market – to the extent that they operate an auction platform referred to in Article 3 item 10a of the Act of 29 July 2005 on Trading in Financial Instruments;
  7. investment funds, alternative investment companies, investment fund companies, ASI managers, branches of management companies and branches of management companies from the European Union located in the territory of the Republic of Poland, within the meaning of the Act of 27 May 2004 on investment funds and management of alternative investment funds (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 1355, 2215, 2243 and 2244 and of 2019, items 730 and 875);
  8. insurance undertakings conducting the activities referred to in Section I of the Annex to the Act of 11 September 2015 on insurance and reinsurance activities (Journal of Laws of 2019, items 381 and 730), including domestic insurance undertakings, main branches of foreign insurance undertakings with their registered office in a country that is not a Member State of the European Union and branches of foreign insurance undertakings with their registered office in a Member State of the European Union other than the Republic of Poland;
  9. insurance intermediaries performing insurance mediation activities in the scope of insurance listed in Section I of the Annex to the Act of 11 September 2015 on insurance and reinsurance activities and branches of foreign intermediaries performing such activities having their registered office in the territory of the Republic of Poland, excluding an insurance agent who is an insurance agent performing insurance mediation activities for one insurance company within the scope of the same section in accordance with the Annex to the Act of 11 September 2015 on insurance and reinsurance activities and does not collect an insurance premium from the client or from the insurance company the amounts due to the client;
  10. The National Depository for Securities SA and the company to which the National Depository for Securities SA has entrusted the performance of activities within the scope referred to in Article 48 section 1 item 1 of the Act of 29 July 2005 on Trading in Financial Instruments, to the extent to which they maintain securities accounts or omnibus accounts;
  11. entrepreneurs conducting currency exchange activities within the meaning of the Act of 27 July 2002 - Foreign Exchange Law (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 160), other entrepreneurs providing currency exchange services or intermediation services in currency exchange, other than other obligated institutions, and branches of foreign entrepreneurs conducting such activities in the territory of the Republic of Poland;
  12. entities conducting business activities consisting in the provision of services in the field of:
    • exchanges between virtual currencies and means of payment,
    • exchanges between virtual currencies,
    • intermediation in the exchange referred to in point a or b,
    • maintaining accounts referred to in paragraph 2 point 17 letter e;
  13. notaries in the scope of activities performed in the form of a notarial deed, including:
    • transfer of ownership of property, including the sale, exchange or donation of movable or immovable property,
    • concluding an agreement on the division of inheritance, abolition of joint ownership, life annuity, annuity in exchange for the transfer of ownership of real estate and the division of joint property,
    • transfer of the cooperative ownership right to the premises, the right of perpetual usufruct and the expectation of separate ownership of the premises,
    • making a non-cash contribution after establishing the company,
    • concluding an agreement documenting the contribution or increase of contributions to the company or the contribution or increase of the share capital,
    • transformation or merger of companies,
    • sale of the enterprise,
    • sale of shares in the company;
  14. notaries in the scope of activities referred to in Article 79 point 6a of the Act of 14 February 1991 – Notarial Law (Journal of Laws of 2019, items 540, 730, 1495 and 1655);
  15. attorneys, legal advisers, foreign lawyers, tax advisors to the extent that they provide legal assistance or tax advisory services to the client regarding:
    • purchase or sale of real estate, an enterprise or an organized part of an enterprise,
    • managing the client's cash, financial instruments or other assets,
    • concluding an agreement for maintaining a bank account, a securities account or performing activities related to maintaining these accounts,
    • making a contribution to a capital company or increasing the share capital of a capital company,
    • establishing, conducting business or managing capital companies or trusts – with the exception of legal advisers and foreign lawyers practicing their profession under an employment relationship or service in offices serving public administration bodies, other state or local government organizational units and in entities other than companies, referred to in Art. 8 sec. 1 of the Act of 6 July 1982 on legal advisers (Journal of Laws of 2018 items 2115 and 2193 and of 2019 item 730), and tax advisers practicing their profession under an employment relationship in entities other than those referred to in Art. 4 sec. 1 items 1 and 3 of the Act of 5 July 1996 on tax consultancy (Journal of Laws of 2019 items 283 and 730);
  16. tax advisors in the scope of tax advisory activities other than those mentioned in point 14, and auditors;
  17. entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act of 6 March 2018 – Entrepreneurs’ Law (Journal of Laws, items 646, 1479, 1629, 1633 and 2212), not being other obligated institutions, providing services consisting in:
    • creating a legal person or an organizational unit without legal personality,
    • performing the function of a member of the management board or enabling another person to perform this function or a similar function in a legal person or an organizational unit without legal personality,
    • providing a registered office, business address or correspondence address and other related services to a legal person or an organizational unit without legal personality,
    • acting or enabling another person to act as a trustee of a trust that was created by legal act,
    • acting or enabling another person to act as a shareholder for an entity other than a company listed on a regulated market subject to disclosure requirements under European Union law or subject to equivalent international standards;
  18. entities providing accounting services;
  19. real estate agents;
  20. postal operators within the meaning of the Act of 23 November 2012 – Postal Law (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 2188);
  21. entities conducting activities in the field of games of chance, mutual betting, card games and slot machine games within the meaning of the Act of 19 November 2009 on gambling (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 847);
  22. foundations established under the Act of 6 April 1984 on Foundations (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1491) to the extent that they accept or make payments in cash with a value equal to or exceeding the equivalent of EUR 10,000, regardless of whether the payment is carried out as a single operation or several operations that appear to be linked;
  23. associations with legal personality, established under the Act of 7 April 1989 - Law on Associations (Journal of Laws of 2019, item 713), to the extent that they accept or make payments in cash with a value equal to or exceeding the equivalent of EUR 10,000, regardless of whether the payment is carried out as a single operation or several operations that appear to be linked;
  24. entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act of 6 March 2018 – Entrepreneurs’ Law, to the extent that they accept or make payments for goods in cash with a value equal to or exceeding the equivalent of EUR 10,000, regardless of whether the transaction is carried out as a single operation or several operations that appear to be related to each other;
  25. entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act of 6 March 2018 – Entrepreneurs’ Law, to the extent to which they conduct business consisting in providing safe deposit boxes, and branches of foreign entrepreneurs conducting such business in the territory of the Republic of Poland;
  26. lending institutions within the meaning of the Act of 12 May 2011 on consumer credit (Journal of Laws of 2018, items 993 and 1075 and of 2019, item 730).

Please remember:
Failure to comply with the obligations specified in the AML Act carries the risk of imposing an administrative fine of up to EUR 1,000,000.

The AML Act also introduces an obligation for all general partnerships, limited partnerships, limited joint-stock partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint-stock companies to report information about their beneficial owners (UBO) to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CBO) maintained by the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with Article 195 of the AML Act. Failure to report UBO on time may result in a fine of up to PLN 1,000,000 (pursuant to Article 153, Section 1 of the AML Act).

The deadline for submitting a UBO notification is April 13, 2020.


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