The Department of Finance recently published the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2013 (the “Bill”) which, if enacted, will amend the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (the “2010 Act”).

The Bill is aimed at enhancing Ireland’s compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) standards following FATF’s evaluation of the 2010 Act, and it is intended that the Bill will also address the weaknesses in the 2010 Act that have come to light since its enactment.

There are a number of key issues addressed in the Bill including the following:

• While the 2010 Act provides that enhanced customer due diligence (“CDD”) must be undertaken in respect of proposed customers that are politically exposed persons, the Bill provides that such measures must also be applied to existing customers that become politically exposed persons.
• The 2010 Act provides that where a designated person has reasonable grounds to believe that there is a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, the designated person may apply additional CDD measures. The Bill amends this approach to make this a mandatory requirement.
• The Bill also provides that the specific policies and procedures that designated persons are required to have in place, will also need to include measures to keep documents and information relating to customers of that designated person up-to-date.

It is anticipated that the Bill will be enacted sometime prior to summer 2013.