(1) Notifications under section 20(1) and section 21 must first be made to the Transparency Register by 1 October 2017.
(2) Access to entries in the Register of Associations, as provided for under section 22(1), first sentence, no. 8, shall be opened from 26 June 2018. By 25 June 2018 the technical conditions shall be created for transmitting the index data under section 22(2) necessary to open access to the original data under section 22(1), first sentence, no. 8. For the transitional period from 26 June 2017 to 25 June 2018 the Transparency Register shall instead contain a link to the joint register portal of the Länder.
(3) Section 23(3) applies from 1 January 2023.
(4) Exemptions granted by the supervisory authorities under section 50, no. 8 to obliged entities under section 2(1), no. 15, insofar as they organise or intermediate gambling on the internet, remain effective, by way of derogation from section 16, until 30 June 2018.
(5) Where court proceedings concerning the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of suspected money laundering or terrorist financing were pending on 25 June 2015 and an obliged entity holds information or documents connected with those pending proceedings, the obliged entity may retain that information or those documents until 25 June 2020.
(6) The obligation to register under section 45(1), second sentence exists from the commissioning of the Financial Intelligence Unit's new information network, but at the latest from 1 January 2024. The Federal Ministry of Finance shall announce the date of commissioning of the Financial Intelligence Unit's new information network in the Federal Law Gazette. For dealers in goods who do not trade in art, jewellery, watches, precious metal, precious stones, motor vehicles, ships, motor boats or aircraft, the obligation to register exists at the latest from 1 January 2027. The registration obligation does not apply to acceptance points that intermediate sports betting under section 29(6) of the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling.
(7) Until the technical implementation of the procedure under section 31(6), and at the latest until 31 December 2027, the Financial Intelligence Unit may request the Federal Central Tax Office to retrieve from credit institutions the data referred to in section 93b(1) and (1a) of the Fiscal Code, excluding the identification number under section 139b of the Fiscal Code (section 93(8) of the Fiscal Code). For a request under the first sentence, section 93(8a) to (10) of the Fiscal Code applies correspondingly. The Federal Central Tax Office shall, in answering the request, transmit to the Financial Intelligence Unit only such data as the Financial Intelligence Unit is entitled to retrieve under section 31(6).
(8) Legal persons governed by private law and registered partnerships under section 20(1) whose obligation to notify the Transparency Register was, as at 31 July 2021, deemed fulfilled under the version of section 20(2) in force up to and including 31 July 2021, shall notify the particulars listed in section 19(1) to the register-keeping body for entry in the Transparency Register 1. by 31 March 2022, where the entity is a stock corporation, an SE, or a partnership limited by shares, 2. by 30 June 2022, where the entity is a limited liability company, a cooperative, a European cooperative society, or a partnership, and 3. in all other cases, by no later than 31 December 2022.
(9) Section 56(1), nos. 55 and 58 to 60 do not apply to legal persons governed by private law or registered partnerships under section 20(1) whose obligation to notify the Transparency Register was, as at 31 July 2021, deemed fulfilled under the version of section 20(2) in force up to and including 31 July 2021, 1. by 31 March 2023, where the entity is a stock corporation, an SE, or a partnership limited by shares, 2. by 30 June 2023, where the entity is a limited liability company, a cooperative, a European cooperative society, or a partnership, and 3. in all other cases, by no later than 31 December 2023.
(10) By way of derogation from section 23a(1), discrepancy reports on account of a missing entry under section 20 need not be filed by 1 April 2023, where, under the version of section 23a(1), in conjunction with section 20(2), in force up to and including 31 July 2021, no obligation to file a discrepancy report with the Transparency Register would have existed.
(11) Section 16a does not apply to legal transactions concluded before 1 April 2023.
(12) Section 19(3), second sentence applies, from 1 January 2023, to notifications under section 20. Insofar as associations notified information for entry in the Transparency Register before that date, an update is not required solely as to the nature and extent of the beneficial interest under section 19(3), second sentence.
(13) Insofar as associations with their registered office abroad are covered by the obligation under section 20(1), second sentence because they held ownership of a domestic item of real property from a point in time before 1 January 2020, or because interests within the meaning of section 1(3) of the Real Property Transfer Tax Act have been combined in them from a point in time before 1 August 2021, or because they have held an economic interest within the meaning of section 1(3a) of the Real Property Transfer Tax Act on the basis of a legal transaction from a point in time before 1 August 2021, the particulars listed in section 19(1) shall be notified to the register-keeping body for entry in the Transparency Register by 30 June 2023.
(14) Section 23(1), third sentence and section 23a(5), second sentence apply only to ownership and control structure overviews in respect of which examination of the discrepancy report was concluded after 30 June 2023. The transmission of ownership and control structure overviews on the basis of individual enquiries by an authority outside the inspection procedure remains unaffected.
(15) Information may first be made available for automated data retrieval under section 32(2), fourth sentence once the procedure for automated data retrieval makes it possible for the Financial Intelligence Unit to mark information specifically for retrieval by one or more law enforcement authorities. From that point in time, for a period of two years, information for law enforcement authorities participating in automated retrieval under section 32(4) shall, instead of being transmitted, only be made available for automated retrieval. On expiry of that period, the Financial Intelligence Unit may dispense with transmission to all law enforcement authorities, where an evaluation by the Federal Ministry of Finance, in agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Ministry of Justice, establishes that making information available for automated retrieval, instead of transmission, has proved effective in practice.
Annex 1
(to sections 5, 10, 14 and 15) Factors for a Potentially Lower Risk
(Source: Federal Law Gazette I 2017, p. 1858; for individual amendments see footnote)
The following is a non-exhaustive list of factors and possible indications of a potentially lower risk within the meaning of section 14: 1. Customer risk factors: a) public companies listed on a stock exchange that are subject (whether by stock exchange rules, by law, or by enforceable means) to disclosure requirements imposing requirements to ensure adequate transparency of beneficial ownership, b) public administrations or undertakings, c) customers resident in geographical areas of lower risk under no. 3. 2. Product, service, transaction or delivery-channel risk factors: a) life insurance policies with a low premium, b) insurance policies for pension contracts, provided the contracts contain no surrender clause and cannot be used as collateral for loans, c) pension schemes or similar schemes that provide retirement benefits to employees, where contributions are deducted from salary and the scheme rules do not permit the assignment of a member's rights, d) financial products or services that provide appropriately defined and limited services to certain types of customers, for the purpose of financial inclusion, e) products where the money laundering and terrorist financing risks are managed by other factors, such as purse limits or transparency of ownership (for example certain types of e-money). 3. Geographical risk factors — registration, establishment, residence in: a) Member States, b) third countries having effective systems for the prevention, detection and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing, c) third countries identified by credible sources as having a low level of corruption or other criminal activity, d) third countries whose requirements for the prevention, detection and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing are, according to credible sources (such as mutual evaluations, detailed assessment reports or published follow-up reports), consistent with the revised FATF (Financial Action Task Force) recommendations and which effectively implement those requirements.
Annex 2
(to sections 5, 10, 14 and 15) Factors for a Potentially Higher Risk
(Source: Federal Law Gazette I 2017, p. 1859; for individual amendments see footnote)
The following is a non-exhaustive list of factors and possible indications of a potentially higher risk within the meaning of section 15: 1. Customer risk factors: a) unusual circumstances of the business relationship, b) customers that are resident in geographical areas of high risk under no. 3, c) legal persons or legal arrangements that are personal asset-holding vehicles, d) companies that have nominee shareholders or shares issued in bearer form, e) businesses that are cash intensive, f) the ownership structure of the company appears unusual or excessively complex, given the nature of the company's business, g) the customer is a third-country national who applies for residence rights or citizenship of a Member State in exchange for transfers of capital, purchase of property or government bonds, or investment in corporate entities in that Member State. 2. Product, service, transaction or delivery-channel risk factors: a) private banking, b) products or transactions that might favour anonymity, c) business relationships or transactions without face-to-face contact and without certain safeguards, such as electronic means for identification, relevant trust services as defined in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, or any other secure remote or electronic identification process regulated, recognised, approved or accepted by the relevant national authorities, d) receipt of payments from unknown or unassociated third parties, e) new products and new business practices, including new delivery mechanisms, and the use of new or developing technologies for both new and pre-existing products, f) transactions related to oil, arms, precious metals, tobacco products, cultural artefacts and other items of archaeological, historical, cultural and religious significance or of rare scientific value, as well as ivory and protected species. 3. Geographical risk factors: a) countries identified, without prejudice to Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2015/849, by credible sources (such as mutual evaluations, detailed assessment reports or published follow-up reports) as not having effective systems for the prevention, detection and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing, b) third countries identified by credible sources as having significant levels of corruption or other criminal activity, c) countries subject to sanctions, embargoes or similar measures issued by, for example, the European Union or the United Nations, d) countries providing funding or support for terrorist activities, or that have designated terrorist organisations operating within their territory.