The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2021 gives effect to the criminal justice and several non-criminal justice provisions of the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/843). The Fifth Directive makes a series of amendments to the previous Directives to:
- reduce risks associated with the use of virtual currencies for terrorist financing;
- limit the use of pre-paid cards;
- improve the safeguards for financial transactions to and from high-risk third countries;
- broaden the scope of designated bodies under the existing legislation;
- refine the customer due diligence (CDD) requirements of the existing legislation
- prevent credit and financial institutions from creating anonymous safe-deposit boxes an
- provide for Ministerial guidance which will clarify domestic ‘prominent public functions.’
The primary Act being amended is the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, which transposed the Third AML Directive, and was previously amended in 2018 to give effect to the Fourth AML Directive.
The establishment of a Judicial Council is a major landmark development in the history of the Irish judiciary, formalising a number of very important judicial functions. These include:
- Provision for the continuing education of judges through the Judicial Studies Committee
- The creation of Guidelines for awards in Personal Injuries cases through the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee
- The creation of Sentencing Guidelines through the Sentencing Guidelines Committee
- The creation of a judicial code of conduct and the introduction of mechanisms for dealing with complaints
This Act transposes most provisions of the fourth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The Act extends and adds to obligations in existing legislation on financial institutions and other businesses relating to anti-money laundering, such as carrying out customer due diligence and reporting suspicious transactions. Significant provisions of the Act relate to the powers of the Garda Financial Intelligence Unit, and to requirements for enhanced due diligence to be applied to politically exposed persons (PEPs).
This Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 repealed and replaced the seven previous Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010. It introduced new and amended offences to give better effect to Ireland’s international obligations under the OECD, UN and Council of Europe Conventions. It also provided for the implementation of six recommendations of the Mahon Tribunal.
An Act to provide for establishing and maintaining a register of persons who carry on lobbying activities; to provide for a code of conduct relating to carrying on lobbying activities; to impose restrictions on involvement in lobbying by certain former designated public officials; to amend the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995; and to provide for related matters.
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides statutory protections for workers in all sectors of the economy against reprisals in circumstances where they disclose information relating to wrongdoing that has come to their attention in the workplace.
The Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 provides for the freezing and confiscation of assets that are found to be the proceeds of crime. It also deals with the disposal of any property or assets that have been obtained through criminal means. It provides for a ‘non-conviction based’ confiscation regime and was designed to deal with organised crime. The enactment of this legislation coincided with the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau.