The notary public and the role of external reporting of money laundering activities

Abstract

We have increasingly seen an increase in the number of measures being taken to combat Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism. Undoubtedly the Notary Public, as a subject person has been affected by the introduction of such legislative measures, namely the act of external reporting to the FIAU. This professional report seeks to identify the key instances which should trigger notaries’ into filing a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR). A brief summary of what the process entails is also included in this professional report. Furthermore, the author will go into ethical issues such as professional secrecy in order to assess whether the filing of a STR would in turn breach professional secrecy and confidentiality between the Notary Public and his/her clients. For this desk research, legal sources such as national legislation, EU Regulations and Directives and FIAU guidance papers were utilized. The author also made use of journal articles, books, reports, and working papers as secondary sources. Informal interviews were also utilized. These helped the author gain a general background on the role of external reporting and the challenges Notaries find in connection to external reporting.