The AML law and lawyers: scope, due diligence and reporting

In short

• A lawyer is subject to the Law of 18 September 2017 for certain transactions only: buying or selling real estate or a business, managing the client's funds or accounts, contributions, creating or managing companies and trusts, and acting in the client's name in a financial or real-estate transaction (art. 5 §1 28°).
• Litigation and legal advice are outside the scope. In a covered matter, they relieve certain duties only, never identification.
• For each matter within scope, the lawyer assesses the risk of the client and the transaction (art. 19) and adapts the due diligence measures. The lawyer must be able to show this to the bâtonnier.
• Enhanced due diligence is mandatory for high-risk third countries (art. 38), states with low taxation (art. 39) and politically exposed persons (art. 41).
• A suspicion is reported to the bâtonnier of the lawyer's Ordre, who forwards it to CTIF (art. 52).

The AML risk assessment of a client applies these rules to a matter and makes a dated file note, without any client data leaving your device.

When is a lawyer subject to the law?

Art. 5 §1 28° covers the lawyer acting in the exercise of the regulated professional activity in two situations. First, when assisting the client in preparing or carrying out transactions concerning:

• the purchase or sale of real estate or commercial businesses;
• managing the client's funds, securities or other assets;
• opening or managing bank accounts or portfolios;
• organising the contributions needed to create, operate or manage companies;
• creating, operating or managing companies, fiducies, trusts, foundations or similar structures.

Second, when acting in the client's name and on its behalf in any financial or real-estate transaction. The bars give as examples asset deals and share deals, incorporations, shareholder agreements, amendments to articles of association, and signing a settlement or a deed under a special power of attorney.

Litigation, defence and assessing the client's legal position are not activities of point 28°. Nor are judicial mandates: an insolvency trustee, a provisional administrator or a liquidator neither assists nor represents a client. They do, however, answer CTIF requests under art. 81 directly.

Advice, proceedings and professional secrecy

In a matter covered by point 28°, the law takes account of the role of adviser and defender. For information received while assessing the client's legal position or defending the client in proceedings, including advice on starting or avoiding proceedings, the lawyer is relieved of:

• the duty to refuse or end the relationship when identification or due diligence is impossible (arts. 33 §2, 34 §4 and 35 §3);
• the suspicious-transaction report (art. 53);
• reporting a discrepancy with the UBO register (art. 74/1);
• answering CTIF requests about that information (art. 81 §3).

The relief falls away when the lawyer takes part in the laundering, advises for that purpose or knows that the client seeks advice for that purpose. In its judgment 114/2020 of 24 September 2020, the Constitutional Court held that only information known outside advice and defence may reach CTIF through the bâtonnier, and that a transaction abandoned on the lawyer's advice falls under advice. Identification and the other due diligence measures always apply.

The individual risk assessment

Due diligence rests on an individual assessment of the risks of the client and of the relationship or transaction (art. 19). It takes account of the firm's overall assessment and of the factors in the annexes to the law: the variables of Annex I (purpose, amounts, duration), the potentially lower-risk factors of Annex II and the potentially higher-risk factors of Annex III, to be considered at least. If the risk is high, enhanced measures are mandatory; if it is low, simplified measures are allowed, never required.

Identification is required when a business relationship starts, for an occasional transaction of €10,000 or more, for fund transfers above €1,000, and when there is a suspicion or a doubt about the data (art. 21). It takes place before the relationship starts (art. 30); a deferral is allowed only in limited cases, when the risk is low, and then calls for enhanced vigilance until verification (arts. 31 and 37 §1). The data and documents are kept for ten years (art. 60).

Mandatory enhanced due diligence

Three cases make enhanced due diligence mandatory, whatever the rest of the assessment shows:

• High-risk third countries (art. 38). A link of the client, an agent, a beneficial owner or the funds with a country on the European Union or FATF lists, or a country the firm itself considers high risk. The measures include the source of funds and wealth, a decision by a senior-level member and enhanced monitoring. The article covers third countries: an EEA member state on a FATF list, such as Bulgaria, does not trigger it.
• States with no or low taxation (art. 39). A link with a state on the list set under art. 307 §1/2 of the Income Tax Code, with attention to laundering the proceeds of serious tax fraud.
• Politically exposed persons (art. 41). The client, an agent or a beneficial owner, their family members and close associates. Belgian functions count: Annex IV lists, among others, ministers, members of parliament, councillors at the Court of Cassation, the courts of appeal and the labour courts, and ambassadors. The measures continue for at least 12 months after the person leaves office.

Beneficial owners and the UBO register

For a client that is a legal person or arrangement, the lawyer identifies the beneficial owners, takes reasonable measures to verify their identity and understands the ownership and control structure (art. 23). For a company, holding more than 25 % of the shares or voting rights is an indication; failing that, it is the senior managing official. When the relationship starts, the lawyer obtains proof of registration or an extract of the UBO register, without relying on it alone (art. 29). A discrepancy is reported to the bâtonnier, who forwards it to the Treasury (art. 74/1).

Reporting a suspicion

A lawyer who knows or suspects that funds, a transaction or a fact are linked to money laundering or terrorist financing reports it immediately to the bâtonnier of the lawyer's Ordre, not to CTIF (art. 52). The bâtonnier checks the conditions of the law and forwards the report without filtering it. Nobody may tell the client or a third party that a report was made (art. 55); trying to dissuade the client is not disclosure.

The bar rules complete the law. At AVOCATS.BE, the bâtonnier is CTIF's sole contact, the lawyer ends the intervention without giving the reason, and a lawyer who dissuades the client does not report (Code arts. 4.87 and 4.88). At the OVB, the lawyer stops unless the stafhouder allows the work to continue (Codex art. 70), and informs the client of the AML framework before starting (art. 71).

What applies to every matter

Outside point 28°, some rules always apply: no cash payment above €3,000 for one transaction or linked transactions (art. 67 §2; OVB Codex art. 73), the price of a real-estate sale paid only by transfer or cheque (art. 66 §2), and the financial sanctions of the European Union and the United Nations, which apply directly in Belgium. Recording the scope check when each file is opened is good practice recommended by the OVB.

What changes in 2027

Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies directly from 10 July 2027. For lawyers, it adds crypto-assets to the covered transactions, covers anyone whose main activity is tax advice, sets the beneficial-ownership threshold at 25 % or more, and requires customer information to be updated at least every year for higher-risk customers and every five years for the others. It provides for five-year retention, while Belgian law provides for ten: the Belgian implementing law is not known yet.

Sources

• Law of 18 September 2017, consolidated text
• Constitutional Court, judgment 114/2020 of 24 September 2020
• FPS Finance: high-risk countries
• Treasury: consolidated list of financial sanctions
• AVOCATS.BE: Code of conduct (version of 30/04/2026)
• AVOCATS.BE: Application de la législation anti-blanchiment aux avocats (2024)
• OVB: Codex Deontologie voor Advocaten
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1624