Declaration of Means of Payment movements

Declaration of Means of Payment movements

In recent years, the movement of anonymous means of payment has received renewed attention from the perspective of money laundering prevention. The evidence provided by operational experts in repeated typology exercises organized by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regarding the increasing use of large amounts of cash in criminal schemes led to Law 19/2003, of 4 July, on the legal regime of movements of capital and economic transactions abroad and on certain measures to prevent money laundering, amend Law 19/1993, of 28 December, on certain measures for the prevention of money laundering, transferring to the area of prevention of money laundering an issue that had traditionally been dealt with from the point of view of exchange control (Law 40/1979, of 10 December, on the legal regime for exchange control).

The need to control cash movements has been reaffirmed by the recent approval of Regulation (EC) 1889/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 (published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 25 November 2005) on controls of cash entering or leaving the Community. As Regulation (EC) 1889/2005 itself states in its third recital, 'such harmonisation should not affect the possibility for Member States to carry out, in accordance with the existing Treaty provisions, national controls on cash movements within the Community'.

Consequently, once Articles 2.3 and 17.4 of the Regulations approved by Royal Decree 925/1995, of 9 June, in the wording given by Royal Decree 54/2005, of 21 January, the provisions of Articles 2.4 and 3.9 of Law 19/1993, of 28 December, in the wording given by Law 19/2003, of 4 July, now proceed to issue the corresponding Order regulating the prior declaration of movements of means of payment in the area of money laundering prevention.

Scope of application.

1. This Order shall apply to natural or legal persons of a private nature who, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a third party, carry out the following movements of means of payment:

a) Exit or entry into national territory of metallic currency, bank notes and bearer bank cheques denominated in national currency or in any other currency or any physical means, including electronic ones, designed to be used as a means of payment, for an amount equal to or greater than 10,000 euros per person per trip.

b) Movements throughout national territory of means of payment consisting of metallic currency, bank notes and bearer bank cheques denominated in national currency or in any other currency or any physical means, including electronic ones, designed to be used as a means of payment, for an amount equal to or greater than 100,000 euros. For the purposes of this Order, "movement" shall mean any change of place or position that occurs outside the domicile of the holder of the means of payment.

S-1 Form

Natural or legal persons acting on their own behalf or on that of third-parties who undertake the following movements of means of payment must submit a declaration:

1. Persons entering or leaving national territory with money in notes and coins or bearer cheques made out in the national currency or any other, or any other physical payment media, including electronic media, conceived as being used as a payment media, for an amount greater than or equal to 10,000 euros per person per journey.
2. Persons moving within national territory payment media consisting of money in national notes and coins or any other currency, or any other physical payment media, including electronic media, conceived as being used as a payment media, for an amount greater than or equal to 100,000 euros. In accordance with the present Order, by "movement" it is understood any change of place or position that is verified outside the place of residence of the holder of the means of payment.

This obligation does not apply to cheques made out to a named person.

The reference to electronic payment media does not include named credit and debit cards.

Provided that they show due proof of their condition, the bound individuals referred to in sections 1 and 2 of the article 2 of the Regulation of Law 19/1993 of 28 of December on specific measures for the prevention of money laundering will be exempt from submitting a tax return form in relation to the movements directly related to their professional or commercial activity.