Prohibition on Disclosure of Information; Authorisation to Issue Statutory Instruments

(1) An obliged entity may not inform the contracting party, the party instructing the transaction, or other third parties, of 1. an intended or filed report under section 43(1), 2. investigative proceedings instituted on the basis of a report under section 43(1), and 3. a request for information under section 30(3), first sentence.
(2) The prohibition does not apply to a disclosure of information 1. to public bodies, 2. between obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 3 and 6 to 8 that belong to the same corporate group, 3. between obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 3 and 6 to 8 that are parent undertakings within the meaning of section 9(1), and their branches and group-affiliated undertakings within the meaning of section 1(16), no. 2, established in third countries and subject there to money-laundering-law obligations, provided the latter have effectively implemented the measures under section 9(1), second sentence, nos. 1, 3 and 4, 4. between obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 10 to 12 from Member States of the European Union or from third countries in which the requirements for a system to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing correspond to those of Directive (EU) 2015/849, provided the persons concerned exercise their professional activity a) on a self-employed basis, b) as employees within the same legal person, or c) as employees within a structure that has a common owner or common management, or that has common control as regards compliance with the provisions on the prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing, 5. between obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 in cases relating to the same contracting party and the same transaction in which two or more obliged entities are involved, where a) the obliged entities have their registered office in a Member State of the European Union or in a third country in which the requirements for a system to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing correspond to the requirements of Directive (EU) 2015/849, b) the obliged entities belong to the same professional category, and c) comparable obligations regarding professional secrecy and the protection of personal data apply to the obliged entities. Information disclosed under the first sentence, nos. 2 to 5 may be used exclusively for the purpose of preventing money laundering or terrorist financing.
(3) Insofar as this or other Acts do not provide otherwise, other public bodies besides the Financial Intelligence Unit that have obtained knowledge of a report filed under section 43(1) may not pass on that information to 1. the contracting party of the obliged entity, 2. the party instructing the transaction, 3. the beneficial owner, 4. a person engaged by any of the persons referred to in nos. 1 to 3 as a representative or messenger, and 5. legal counsel instructed by any of the persons referred to in nos. 1 to 4. Passing on this information to those persons is permissible only where the Financial Intelligence Unit has previously given its consent and where the original purpose of the suspicious activity report is not altered by passing on the information.
(4) It is not deemed a disclosure of information where obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 10 to 12 seek to dissuade a client from committing an unlawful act.
(5) Obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 9 may disclose to one another information, other than that referred to in subsection (1), on concrete matters containing anomalies or irregularities indicating money laundering, a predicate offence thereto, or terrorist financing, where they may assume that other obliged entities need that information for 1. the risk assessment of a corresponding or similar transaction or business relationship, or 2. the assessment of whether a report under section 43(1) or a criminal complaint under section 158 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should be filed. The information may also be disclosed using databases, irrespective of whether such databases are operated by the obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 1 to 9 themselves or by third parties. The information disclosed may be used exclusively for the purpose of preventing money laundering, predicate offences thereto, or terrorist financing, and only subject to the conditions imposed by the transmitting obliged entity.
(6) The Federal Ministry of Finance may, in agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, by statutory instrument not requiring the consent of the Bundesrat, make further provisions under which no information may be disclosed in respect of obliged entities from high-risk third countries within the meaning of Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2015/849.