6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6) – Combating Money Laundering by Criminal Law

The 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6 / Directive 2018/1673/EU) complements the preventive rules of AMLD5 with a criminal law dimension. It harmonises the criminal offences of money laundering across all EU member states, sets minimum standards for maximum penalties, and extends criminal liability to legal persons.

• 23 predicate offences: Unified catalogue including tax fraud, cybercrime, environmental crime, and (since 2024) violations of EU restrictive measures.
• Maximum sentence: Member states must make money laundering in serious cases punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 4 years (Art. 5).
• Corporate liability: Companies can be held criminally liable for money laundering by their senior staff.
• Self-laundering: Explicit criminalisation of self-laundering (offender laundering own proceeds).

AMLD6 was adopted by the EU Parliament and Council on 23 October 2018 (Directive 2018/1673/EU). It was a response to significant divergences in the criminal treatment of money laundering between member states, which hampered effective cross-border prosecution. The transposition deadline was 3 December 2020. Unlike AMLD4 and AMLD5, which primarily regulate preventive obligations, AMLD6 focuses on criminal law minimum standards, fundamentally complementing the EU AML framework. Several member states were warned by the European Commission for late transposition. In July 2021, the Commission announced a comprehensive AML package (new AMLA authority and AML regulation). In April 2024, AMLD6 was amended by Directive 2024/1226: violations of EU restrictive measures were added as the 23rd predicate offence. The 2024 AML package (Directive 2024/1640 — now officially called AMLD6 in new EU nomenclature — along with the AMLR and AMLA Regulation) progressively supersedes the existing framework. AMLD6 (2018/1673/EU) remains relevant as a criminal law foundation.

AMLD6 applies to all EU member states and concerns:

• Law enforcement authorities and public prosecutors
• National criminal legislation (transposition obligation)
• Legal persons (companies, associations) as potential perpetrators
• 23 defined predicate offences, including: terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking, corruption, tax fraud, cybercrime, environmental crime, and violations of EU restrictive measures (since 2024, Directive 2024/1226)

The directive harmonises criminal law but leaves specific implementation modalities to member states.

• Criminalisation of all 23 listed predicate offences for money laundering (incl. EU sanctions violations since 2024).
• Member states must make serious money laundering cases punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 4 years (Art. 5).
• Criminal liability of legal persons for money laundering acts of their governing bodies.
• Sanctions against legal persons: fines, temporary loss of business licences, judicial supervision.
• Explicit criminalisation of self-laundering.
• Extended jurisdiction (including for foreign offences with EU nexus).

aml6d (lon 208) and ucits (lon -152) projected to same point since -152+360=208. Moved aml6d to lon 212.

1 correction:
- Penalty incorrectly described: 'minimum 4-year sentence' instead of 'maximum term of imprisonment of at least 4 years'
4 updates:
- History ends at 2021 — missing: 2024 amendment, new AML package
- Missing key_date: amendment by Directive 2024/1226
- 22 predicate offences now 23: EU sanctions violations added in 2024
- last_amended date incorrect: Directive was amended in 2024
3 clarifications.