Article 21Inability to comply with the requirement to apply customer due diligence measures

1. Where an obliged entity is unable to comply with the requirement to apply customer due diligence measures laid down in Article 20(1), it shall refrain from carrying out a transaction or establishing a business relationship, and shall terminate the business relationship and consider reporting a suspicious transaction to the FIU in relation to the customer in accordance with Article 69.

The termination of a business relationship pursuant to the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall not prohibit the receipt of funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 due to the obliged entity.

Where an obliged entity has a duty to protect its customer’s assets, the termination of the business relationship shall not be understood as requiring the disposal of the assets of the customer.

In the case of life insurance contracts, obliged entities shall, where necessary as an alternative measure to terminating the business relationship, refrain from performing transactions for the customer, including payouts to beneficiaries, until the customer due diligence measures laid down in Article 20(1) are complied with.

2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to notaries, lawyers, other independent legal professionals, auditors, external accountants and tax advisors, to the extent that those persons ascertain the legal position of their client, or perform the task of defending or representing that client in, or concerning, judicial proceedings, including providing advice on instituting or avoiding such proceedings.

The first subparagraph shall not apply when the obliged entities referred to therein:

(a)

take part in money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;

(b)

provide legal advice for the purposes of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing; or

(c)

know that the client is seeking legal advice for the purposes of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing; knowledge or purpose may be inferred from objective factual circumstances.

3. Obliged entities shall keep record of the actions taken in order to comply with the requirement to apply customer due diligence measures, including records of the decisions taken and the relevant supporting documents and justifications. Documents, data or information held by the obliged entity shall be updated whenever the customer due diligence is reviewed pursuant to Article 26.

The obligation to keep records provided for in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall also apply to situations where obliged entities refuse to enter into a business relationship, terminate a business relationship or apply alternative measures pursuant to paragraph 1.

The article continues in the official text.