(b) the personal data are disclosed to authorities whose functions are directly related to the purposes for which the personal data are disclosed under point (c) of this paragraph;
(c) the personal data are disclosed only if necessary:
(i) for the purposes of criminal proceedings;
(ii) for any purposes other than that of criminal proceedings; or
(iii) to prevent an immediate and serious threat to public security,
(d) the personal data may be used by the requesting third country only for the purposes for which the information was requested and within the limits specified by the State that notified the personal data under Article 646; and
(e) the personal data are disclosed only if the central authority, having assessed all the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the personal data to the third country, concludes that appropriate safeguards exist to protect the personal data.
2. This Article does not apply to personal data obtained by a State under this Title and originating from that State.
Title X. ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING AND COUNTER TERRORIST FINANCING
Article 652. Objective
The objective of this Title is to support and strengthen action by the Union and the United Kingdom to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing,
Article 653. Measures to Prevent and Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing
1. The Parties agree to support international efforts to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Parties recognise the need to cooperate in preventing the use of their financial systems to launder the proceeds of all criminal activity, including drug trafficking and corruption, and to combat terrorist financing.
2. The Parties shall exchange relevant information, as appropriate within their respective legal frameworks.
3. The Parties shall each maintain a comprehensive regime to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and regularly review the need to enhance that regime, taking account of the principles and objectives of the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations.
Article 654. Beneficial Ownership Transparency for Corporate and other Legal Entities
1. For the purposes of this Article, the following definitions apply:
(a) "beneficial owner" means any individual in respect of a corporate entity who, in accordance with the Party's laws and regulations:
(i) exercises or has the right to exercise ultimate control over the management of the entity,
(ii) ultimately owns or controls directly or indirectly more than 25 % of the voting rights or shares or other ownership interests in the entity, without prejudice to each Party's right to define a lower percentage; or
(iii) otherwise controls or has the right to control the entity,
In respect of legal entities such as foundations, Anstalt and limited liability partnerships, each Party has the right to determine similar criteria for identifying the beneficial owner, or, if they choose, to apply the definition set out in point (a) of Article 655(1), having regard to the form and structure of such entities.
In respect of other legal entities not mentioned above, each Party shall take into account the different forms and structures of such entities and the level of money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with such entities, with a view to deciding the appropriate levels of beneficial ownership transparency;
(b) "basic information about a beneficial owner" means the beneficial owner's name, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality, as well as the nature and extent of the interest held, or control exercised, over the entity by the beneficial owner,
(c) "competent authorities" means:
(i) public authorities, including Financial Intelligence Units, that have designated responsibilities for combating money laundering or terrorist financing;
(i) public authorities that have the function of investigating or prosecuting money laundering, associated predicate offences or terrorist financing, or that have the fimction of tracing, seizing or freezing and confiscating criminal assets;
(iii) public authorities that have supervisory or monitoring responsibilities aimed at ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering or counter terrorist financing requirements.
This definition is without prejudice to each Party's right to identify additional competent authorities that can access information about beneficial owners.
2. Each Party shall ensure that legal entities in its territory maintain adequate, accurate and up-to-date information about beneficial owners. Each Party shall put in place mechanisms to ensure that their competent authorities have timely access to such information.
3. Each Party shall establish or maintain a central register holding adequate, up-to-date and accurate information about beneficial owners. In the case of the Union, the central registers shall be set up at the level of the Member States. This obligation shall not apply in respect of legal entities listed on a stock exchange that are subject to disclosure requirements regarding an adequate level of transparency. Where no beneficial owner is identified in respect of an entity, the register shall hold alternative information, such as a statement that no beneficial owner has been identified or details of the natural person or persons who hold the position of senior managing official in the legal entity.
4. Each Party shall ensure that the information held in its central register or registers is made available to its competent authorities without restriction and in a timely manner.
5. Each Party shall ensure that basic information about beneficial owners is made available to any member of the public. Limited exceptions may be made to the public availability of information under this paragraph in cases where public access would expose the beneficial owner to disproportionate risks, such as risks of fraud, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, harassment, violence or intimidation, or where the beneficial owner is a minor or otherwise legally incapable.
6. Each Party shall ensure that there are effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions against legal or natural persons who fail to comply with requirements imposed on them in connection with the matters referred to in this Article.
7. Each Party shall ensure that its competent authorities are able to provide the information referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 to the competent authorities of the other Party in a timely and effective manner and free of charge. To that end, the Parties shall consider ways to ensure the secure exchange of information.
Article 655. Beneficial Ownership Transparency of Legal Arrangements
1. For the purposes of this Article, the following definitions apply:
(a) "beneficial owner" means the settlor, the protector (if any), trustees, the beneficiary or class of beneficiaries, any person holding an equivalent position in relation to a legal arrangement with a structure or function similar to an express trust, and any other natural person exercising ultimate effective control over a trust or a similar legal arrangement;
(b) "competent authorities" means:
(i) public authorities, including Financial Intelligence Units, that have designated responsibilities for combating money laundering or terrorist financing;
(ii) public authorities that have the function of investigating or prosecuting money laundering, associated predicate offences or terrorist financing or the function of tracing, seizing or freezing and confiscating criminal assets;
(iii) public authorities that have supervisory or monitoring responsibilities aimed at ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering or counter terrorist financing requirements.
This definition is without prejudice to each Party's right to identify additional competent authorities that can access information about beneficial owners.
2. Each Party shall ensure that trustees of express trusts maintain adequate, accurate and up-to-date information about beneficial owners, These measures shall abo apply to other legal arrangements identified by each Party as having a structure or function similar to trusts.
3. Each Party shall put in place mechanisms to ensure that its competent authorities have timely access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date information about beneficial owners of express trusts and other legal arrangements with a structure or fiction similar to trusts in its territory.
4. If the beneficial ownership information about trusts or similar legal arrangements is held in a central register, the State concerned shall ensure that the information is adequate, accurate and up-to-date, and that competent authorities have timely and unrestricted access to such information. The Parties shall endeavour to consider ways to provide access to beneficial ownership information about trusts and similar legal arrangements to individuals or organisations who can demonstrate a legitimate interest in seeing such information.
5. Each Party shall ensure that there are effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions against legal or natural persons who fail to comply with requirements imposed on them in connection with the matters referred to in this Article.
6. Each Party shall ensure that its competent authorities are able to provide the information referred to im paragraph 3 to the competent authorities of the other Party in a timely and effective manner and ftee of charge. To that end, the Parties shall consider ways to ensure the secure exchange of information.
Title XI. FREEZING AND CONFISCATION
Article 656. Objective and Principles of Cooperation
1, The objective of this Title is to provide for cooperation between the United Kingdom, on the one side, and the Member States, on the other side, to the widest extent possible for the purposes of investigations and proceedings aimed at the freezing of property with a view to subsequent confiscation thereof and investigations and proceedings aimed at the confiscation of property within the framework of proceedings in criminal matters. This does not preclude other cooperation pursuant to Article 665(5) and (6). This Title also provides for cooperation with Union bodies designated by the Union for the purposes of this Title.
2. Each State shall comply, under the conditions provided for in this Title, with requests from another State:
(a) for the confiscation of specific items of property, as well as for the confiscation of proceeds consisting in a requirement to pay a sum of money corresponding to the value of proceeds;
(b) for investigative assistance and provisional measures with a view to either form of confiscation referred to in point (a).
3. Investigative assistance and provisional measures sought under point (b) of paragraph 2 shall be carried out as permitted by and in accordance with the domestic law of the requested State. Where the request concerning one of these measures specifies formalities or procedures which are necessary under the domestic law of the requesting State, even if unfamiliar to the requested State, the latter shall comply with such requests to the extent that the action sought is not contrary to the fundamental principles of its domestic law.
4. The requested State shall ensure that the requests coming from another State to identify, trace, freeze or seize the proceeds and instrumentalities, receive the same priority as those made in the framework of domestic procedures.
5. When requesting confiscation, investigative assistance and provisional measures for the purposes of confiscation, the requesting State shall ensure that the principles of necessity and proportionality are respected.
6. The provisions of this Title apply in place of the "international cooperation" Chapters of the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism, done at Warsaw on 16 May 2005 (the "2005 Convention") and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, done at Strasbourg on 8 November 1990 (the "1990 Convention"). Article 657 of this Agreement replaces the corresponding definitions in Article 1 of the 2005 Convention and Article 1 of the 1990 Convention. The provisions of this Title do not affect the States' obligations under the other provisions of the 2005 Convention and the 1990 Convention.
Article 657. Definitions
For the purposes of this Title, the following definitions apply:
(a) "confiscation" means a penalty or a measure ordered by a court following proceedings in relation to a criminal offence or criminal offences, resulting in the final deprivation of property,
(b) "freezing" or "seizure" means temporarily prohibiting the transfer, destruction, conversion, disposition or movement of property or temporarily assuming custody or control of property on the basis of an order issued by a court or other competent authority,
(c) "instrumentalities" means any property used or intended to be used, in any manner, wholly or in part, to commit a criminal offence or criminal offences;
(d) "judicial authority" means an authority that is, under domestic law, a judge, a court or a public prosecutor; a public prosecutor is considered a judicial authority only to the extent that domestic law so provides;
(e) "proceeds" means any economic benefit, derived from or obtained, directly or indirectly, from criminal offences, or an amount of money equivalent to that economic benefit; it may consist of any property as defined in this Article;
(f) "property" includes property of any description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, and legal documents or instruments evidencing title or interest in such property, which the requesting State considers to be:
(i) the proceeds of a criminal offence, or its equivalent, whether the full amount of the value of such proceeds or only part of the value of such proceeds;
(ii) the instrumentalities of a criminal offence, or the value of such instrumentalities;
(iii) subject to confiscation under any other provisions relating to powers of confiscation under the law of the requesting State, following proceedings in relation to a criminal offence, including third party confiscation, extended confiscation and confiscation without final conviction.
Article 658. Obligation to Assist
The States shall afford each other, upon request, the widest possible measure of assistance in the identification and tracing of instrumentalities, proceeds and other property liable to confiscation. Such assistance shall include any measure providing and securing evidence as to the existence, location or movement, nature, legal status or value of those instrumentalities, proceeds or other property.
Article 659. Requests for Information on Bank Accounts and Safe Deposit Boxes
1. The requested State shall, under the conditions set out in this Article, take the measures necessary to determine, in answer to a request sent by another State, whether a natural or legal person that is the subject of a criminal investigation holds or controls one or more accounts, of whatever nature, in any bank located in its territory and, if so, provide the details of the identified accounts. These details shall in particular include the name of the customer account holder and the IBAN number, and, in the case of safe deposit boxes, the name of the lessee or a unique identification number,
2. The obligation set out in paragraph 1 applies only to the extent that the information is in the possession of the bank keeping the account.
3. In addition to the requirements of Article 680, the requesting State shall, in the request:
(a) indicate why it considers that the requested information is likely to be of substantial value for the purposes of the criminal investigation into the offence;
(b) state on what grounds it presumes that banks in the requested State hold the account and specify, to the widest extent possible, which banks and accounts may be involved; and
(c) include any additional information available which may facilitate the execution of the request.
4. The United Kingdom and the Union, acting on behalf of any of its Member States, may each notify the Specialised Committee on Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation that this Article will be extended to accounts held in non-bank financial institutions. Such notifications may be made subject to the principle of reciprocity.
Article 660. Requests for Information on Banking Transactions
1, On request by another State, the requested State shall provide the particulars of specified bank accounts and of banking operations which have been carried out during a specified period through one or more accounts specified in the request, including the particulars of any sending or recipient account,
2. The obligation set out in paragraph 1 applies only to the extent that the information is in the possession of the bank keeping the account.
3. In addition to the requirements of Article 680, the requesting State shall indicate in its request why it considers the requested information relevant for the purposes of the criminal investigation into the offence.
4. The requested State may make the execution of such a request dependent on the same conditions as it applies in respect of requests for search and seizure.
5. The United Kingdom and the Union, acting on behalf of any of its Member States, may each notify the Specialised Committee on Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation that this Article will be extended to accounts held in non-bank financial institutions. Such notifications may be made subject to the principle of reciprocity.
Article 661. Requests for the Monitoring of Banking Transactions
1. The requested State shall ensure that, at the request of another State, it is able to monitor, during a specified period, the banking operations that are being carried out through one or more accounts specified in the request and to communicate the results of the monitoring to the requesting State.
2. In addition to the requirements of Article 680, the requesting State shall indicate in its request why it considers the requested information relevant for the purposes of the criminal investigation into the offence.
3. The decision to monitor shall be taken in each individual case by the competent authorities of the requested State, in accordance with its domestic law.
4. The practical details regarding the monitoring shall be agreed between the competent authorities of the requesting and requested States.
5. The United Kingdom and the Union, acting on behalf of any of its Member States, may each notify the Specialised Committee on Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation that this Article will be extended to accounts held in non-bank financial institutions. Such notifications may be made subject to the principle of reciprocity.
Article 662. Spontaneous Information
Without prejudice to its own investigations or proceedings, a State may without prior request forward to another State information on instrumentalities, proceeds and other property liable to confiscation, where it considers that the disclosure of such information might assist the receiving State in initiating or carrying out investigations or proceedings or might lead to a request by that State under this Title.
Article 663. Obligation to Take Provisional Measures
1, At the request of another State which has instituted a criminal investigation or proceedings, or an investigation or proceedings for the purposes of confiscation, the requested State shall take the necessary provisional measures, such as freezing or seizing, to prevent any dealing in, transfer or disposal of property which, at a later stage, may be the subject of a request for confiscation or which might satisfy the request.
2. A State which has received a request for confiscation pursuant to Article 665 shall, if so requested, take the measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in respect of any property which 3 the subject of the request or which might satisfy the request.
3. Where a request is received under this Article, the requested State shall take all necessary measures to comply with the request without delay and with the same speed and priority as for a similar domestic case and send confirmation without delay and by any means of producing a written record to the requesting State.
4. Where the requesting State states that immediate freezing is necessary since there are legitimate grounds to believe that the property in question will immediately be removed or destroyed, the requested State shall take all necessary measures to comply with the request within 96 hours of receiving the request and send confirmation to the requesting State by any means of producing a written record and without delay.
5. Where the requested State is unable to comply with the time limits under paragraph 4, the requested State shall immediately inform the requesting State, and consult with the requesting State on the appropriate next steps.
6. Any expiration of the time limits under paragraph 4 does not extinguish the requirements placed on the requested State by this Article.
Article 664. Execution of Provisional Measures
1. Affer the execution of the provisional measures requested in conformity with Article 663(1), the requesting State shall provide spontaneously and as soon as possible to the requested State all information which may question or modify the extent of those measures. The requesting State shall also provide without delay all complementary information required by the requested State and which is necessary for the implementation of and the follow-up to the provisional measures.
2. Before lifting any provisional measure taken pursuant to Article 663, the requested State shall, wherever possible, give the requesting State an opportunity to present its reasons in favour of continuing the measure.
Article 665. Obligation to Confiscate
1. The State which has received a request for confiscation of property situated in its territory shall:
(a) enforce a confiscation order made by a court of the requesting State in relation to such property, or
(b) submit the request to its competent authorities for the purpose of obtaming an order of confiscation and, if such an order is granted, enforce it.
2. For the purposes of point (b) of paragraph 1, the States shall, whenever necessary, have competence to institute confiscation proceedings under their own domestic law.
3. Paragraph 1 also applies to confiscation consisting in a requirement to pay a sum of money corresponding to the value of proceeds, if property against which the confiscation can be enforced is located in the requested State. In such cases, when enforcing confiscation pursuant to paragraph 1, the requested State shall, if payment is not obtained, realise the claim on any property available for that purpose.
4. If a request for confiscation concerns a specific item of property, the requesting State and requested State may agree that the requested State may enforce the confiscation in the form of a requirement to pay a sum of money corresponding to the value of the property.
5. A State shall cooperate to the widest extent possible under its domestic law with a State requesting the execution of measures equivalent to confiscation of property, where the request has not been issued in the framework of proceedings in criminal matters, in so far as such measures are ordered by a judicial authority of the requesting State in relation to a criminal offence, provided that it has been established that the property constitutes proceeds or:
(a) other property into which the proceeds have been transformed or converted;
(b) property acquired from legitimate sources, if proceeds have been intermingled, in whole or in part, with such property, up to the assessed value of the intermingled proceeds; or
(c) income or other benefit derived from the proceeds, from property into which proceeds of crime have been transformed or converted or from property with which the proceeds of crime have been intermingled, up to the assessed value of the intermingled proceeds, in the same manner and to the same extent as proceeds.
6. The measures referred to in paragraph 5 include measures which allow the seizure, detention and forfeiture of property and assets by means of applications to civil courts.
7. The requested State shall take the decision on the execution of the confiscation order without delay, and, without prejudice to paragraph 8 of this Article, no later than 45 days after receiving the request, The requested State shall send confirmation to the requesting State by any means of producing a written record and without delay. Unless grounds for postponement under Article 672 exist, the requested State shall take the concrete measures necessary to execute the confiscation order without delay and, at least, with the same speed and priority as for a similar domestic case.
8. Where the requested State is unable to comply with the time limit under paragraph 7, the requested State shall immediately inform the requesting State, and consult with the requesting State on the appropriate next steps.
9. Any expiration of the time limit under paragraph 7 does not extinguish the requirements placed on the requested State by this Article.
Article 666. Execution of Confiscation
1. The procedures for obtaining and enforcing the confiscation under Article 665 shall be governed by the domestic law of the requested State.
2. The requested State shall be bound by the findings as to the facts in so far as they are stated in a conviction or judicial decision issued by a court of the requesting State or in so far as such conviction or judicial decision is implicitly based on them.
3. If the confiscation consists in the requirement to pay a sum of money, the competent authority of the requested State shall convert the amount thereof into the currency of that State at the rate of exchange applicable at the time when the decision to enforce the confiscation is taken.
Article 667. Confiscated Property
1. Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, property confiscated pursuant to Articles 665 and 666 shall be disposed of by the requested State in accordance with its domestic law and administrative procedures.
2. When acting on the request made by another State pursuant to Article 665, the requested State shall, to the extent permitted by its domestic law and if so requested, give priority consideration to returning the confiscated property to the requesting State so that it can give compensation to the victims of the crime or return such property to their legitimate owners.
3. Where acting on the request made by another State in accordance with Article 665, and after having taken into account the right of a victim to restitution or compensation of property pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, the requested State shall dispose of the money obtained as a result of the execution of a confiscation order as follows:
(a) if the amount is equal to or less than EUR 10 000, the amount shall accrue to the requested State; or
(b) if the amount is greater than EUR 10 000, the requested State shall transfer 50 % of the amount recovered to the requesting State.
4. Notwithstanding paragraph 3, the requesting State and requested State may, on a case-by-case basis, give special consideration to concluding other such agreements or arrangements on disposal of property as they deem appropriate.
Article 668. Right of Enforcement and Maximum Amount of Confiscation
1. A request for confiscation made under Article 665 does not affect the right of the requesting State to enforce the confiscation order itself
2. Nothing in this Title shall be interpreted as permitting the total value of the confiscation to exceed the amount of the sum of money specified in the confiscation order. If a State finds that this might occur, the States concerned shall enter into consultations to avoid such an effect.
Article 669. Imprisonment
The requested State shall not impose imprisonment in default or any other measure restricting the liberty of a person as a result of a request under Article 665 without the consent of the requesting State.
Article 670. Grounds for Refusal
1. Cooperation under this Title may be refused if
(a) the requested State considers that executing the request would be contrary to the principle of ne bis in idem; or
(b) the offence to which the request relates does not constitute an offence under the domestic law of the requested State if committed within its jurisdiction; however, this ground for refusal applies to cooperation under Articles 658 to 662 only in so far as the assistance sought involves coercive action.
2. The United Kingdom and the Union, acting on behalf of any of its Member States, may each notify the Specialised Committee on Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation that, on the basis of reciprocity, the condition of double criminality referred to in point (6) of paragraph 1 of this Article will not be applied provided that the offence giving rise to the request is:
(a) one of the offences listed in Article 599(5), as defined by the law of the requesting State; and
(b) punishable by the requesting State by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least three years.
3. Cooperation under Articles 658 to 662, in so far as the assistance sought involves coercive action, and under Articles 663 and 664 may also be refused if the measures sought could not be taken under the domestic law of the requested State for the purposes of investigations or proceedings in a similar domestic case.
4. Where the domestic law of the requested State so requires, cooperation under Articles 658 to 662, in so far as the assistance sought involves coercive action, and under Articles 663 and 664 may also be refused if the measures sought or any other measures having similar effects would not be permitted under the domestic law of the requesting State, or, as regards the competent authorities of the requesting State, if the request is not authorised by a judicial authority acting in relation to criminal offences.
5. Cooperation under Articles 665 to 669 may also be refused if
(a) under the domestic law of the requested State, confiscation is not provided for in respect of the type of offence to which the request relates;
(b) without prejudice to the obligation pursuant to Article 665(3), it would be contrary to the principles of the domestic law of the requested State concerning the limits of confiscation in respect of the relationship between an offence and:
(i) an economic advantage that might be qualified as its proceeds; or
(ii) property that might be qualified as its instrumentalities;
(c) under the domestic law of the requested State, confiscation nay no longer be imposed or enforced because of the lapse of time;
(d) without prejudice to Article 665(5) and (6), the request does not relate to a previous conviction, or a decision of a judicial nature or a statement in such a decision that an offence or several offences have been committed, on the basis of which the confiscation has been ordered or is sought;