AMLR — EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (Single Rulebook)

The AMLR (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624) is the central legal instrument of the EU AML Package. As an EU Regulation it applies directly and without transposition in all member states, eliminating the divergences that arose from national implementation of previous anti-money laundering directives. The AMLR comprehensively codifies the obligations of obliged entities in the AML/CFT field.

• Single rulebook: Uniform, binding obligations for all obliged entities in the EU
• Extended scope: First comprehensive coverage of: crypto-asset service providers, crowdfunding platforms, football clubs
• Harmonised RBA: Uniform methodology for the risk-based approach, EU-wide risk factor lists
• Beneficial ownership: Strengthened and harmonised requirements for transparency registers
• PEP rules: Uniform EU-wide PEP definition and treatment

The AMLR is the centrepiece of the EU AML Package proposed in July 2021. Its predecessor — the chain of EU anti-money laundering directives from 1AMLD (1991) to 5AMLD (2018) — suffered from the inherent limitation of directives: each national transposition introduced interpretive discretion and divergences. The shift to the regulation format was a deliberate decision to create a genuine single rulebook. After three years of trilogue negotiations, the AMLR was approved by the European Parliament on 24 April 2024 and published in the EU Official Journal on 19 June 2024. It enters into application on 10 July 2027.

The AMLR applies directly in all 27 EU member states to all obliged entities: credit institutions, financial institutions, crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), accountants, auditors, tax advisors, notaries, lawyers, real estate agents, trustees, casinos, football clubs (above a certain turnover), and others. Third-country exposure: CASPs serving EU customers must comply with the AMLR.

• Uniform CDD/EDD requirements without possibility of national derogation
• Harmonised risk-based approach with mandatory risk assessments
• Beneficial ownership transparency: accessible registers, minimum standards for information quality
• Uniform EU-wide PEP definition and treatment
• Crypto-assets: full AML obligations for CASPs (identical to traditional financial institutions)
• Extended record-keeping obligations and data access for authorities

1 update:
- AMLR: Staggered application for football clubs/agents (July 10, 2029) missing
1 clarification.