Amendments to the Regulation on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

Author: Grant Thornton Consulting DOO Skopje

Amendments to the Law

The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, in order to harmonize the national legislation on the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism with the European regulation, endorsed an amendment to the existing law.

With the amendments the following purposed obligations will rise for the entities:

• Expanding the term “group” and introducing a term “financial group”, which creates an obligation for entities that are part of a group/financial group to implement a Program for efficient reduction and management of the identified risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism at the group level;
• Introduction of an internal control obligation for the application of restrictive measures;
• Introduction of an obligation to identify the beneficial owner of a life insurance policy;
• Introduction of an obligation when the client is a legal entity, to provide a document that will determine the history of changes in the entity;
• Compliance regulation relating to trust or similar legal arrangement according to FATF’s recommendations;
• Compliance with the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems;
• Introduction of an obligations on the payment service provider of the payer, the recipient and the intermediary in the transfer of funds;
• Introduction of an obligations for the service provider related to the virtual assets of the sender and the user;
• The processing of personal data for the purposes of preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism represents a public interest;
• Extension of the deadline from 1 January 2026 for registration of beneficial owner of trusts and legal arrangements.

Misdemeanor Provisions

A penalty would be imposed for the legal entity (large, medium, small and micro size entity), for the responsible person in the legal entity, a person exercising public authority or a natural person, an authorized official, all entities that are required by law to provide and maintain data for the beneficial owner:

• Reject to accept and/or sign a supervisory order or failure to comply with the Office field supervision order.

A penalty would be imposed for the legal entity (large, medium, small and micro company), and for the responsible person in the legal entity for:

• Failure to provide the requested data, information, and documentation to the institution Office in event of ongoing monitoring.

A penalty would be imposed for manager/trustee of a trust or similar legal arrangement, i.e. a person acting on behalf of a trust, in the event that:

• Fail to notify and provide information and documentation on acting in that capacity, as well as to provide information about the person’s identity;
• Does not maintain accurate and up-to-date data related to the beneficial owner;
• Fail registry the data of the beneficial owner(s), as well as the data on the changes of the beneficial owner(s) in the register, according to the law.

Amendment of fines

A penalty would be imposed according article 186 paragraph (1) for organized, intentionally, repeatedly, causing damage or acquiring significant benefits, as follows:

• Fine in the amount of 10% of the income of the legal entity generated in the previous fiscal year or at least EUR 5,000,000 in denar equivalent for financial institutions, i.e. double amount of the benefit realized or, if the same cannot be determined at least EUR 1,000,000 in denar equivalent for entities other than financial institutions;
• A prohibition to the company to perform an activity in accordance with the law, and to the responsible person misdemeanor and a prohibition from performing a profession, activity or duty in accordance with the law;
• Fine if the actions are committed by: a natural person who acted individually or as a member of high position of the legal entity, act as senior management in the legal entity or by a natural person employed in the legal entity, due to the absence of control by the natural person, positioned as senior management in the legal person.

Entry into force

Amendments to the Law enter into force on the day of publication in the Official Gazette.

For Further details, feel free to contact the following persons:

General Conditions: This information is from general nature and does not contain all-encompassing analysis based on which decisions can be made, taken (or not taken) any action without obtaining additional advice. The material is for information purposes only and should not be considered as separate advice. Grant Thornton Consulting DOO Skopje and AmCham North Macedonia does not take any legal responsibility for the consequences of any decision or measures taken as a result to the given information. You are encouraged to request professional advice.