LUXEMBOURG Trends and Developments Contributed by: Claire Guilbert, Geoffroy Hermanns and Cyril Clugnac, Norton Rose Fulbright
practical implementation (in particular around the leverage limits and calculation as well as around the risk retention requirements). A lot of discussions on the practicality of the new concepts that AIFMs will have to navigate can be expected in the coming years. Finally, and as expected, the Final Text makes various amendments to the UCITS Directive for alignment with those in AIFMD 2, where relevant (save for those on LOFs, which remain reserved for AIFs). The EU AML Package: the adventure begins Close to three years after its unveiling, the last three pillars of the European Commission’s paradigm shift for combating money launder - ing (anti-money laundering (AML)) and terrorism financing (countering the financing of terrorism (CFT)), in the form of its ambitious legislative package to strengthen EU AML and CFT rules (the AML Package), was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 19 June 2024 following its adoption by the European Council. The aim and content of the AML Package is to remedy the gaps in the fifth AML Directive of 2018, which was not implemented equally and in full by all member states. The AML Package also seeks to address the lack of serious consequences in the event of non-compliance, the first pillar of which, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 of 31 May 2023 on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (a recast of Regula - tion (EU) 2015/847 of 20 May 2015 on informa - tion accompanying transfers of funds), had been already published in the Official Journal of the EU in June 2023 (together with the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, or MiCAR, the first package of European legislation that has been enacted to regulate cryptocurrencies and related
services) and will start to apply in a few days, as of 30 December 2024. Those three remaining pillars of the AML Pack - age are: • Directive (EU) 2024/1640 of 31 May 2024 on the mechanisms to be put in place by EU member states for the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (what we previously referred to as the sixth AML Directive); • Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 of 31 May 2024 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money launder - ing or terrorist financing (what we previously referred to as the EU “Single Rulebook” Regulation); and • Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 of 31 May 2024 establishing the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering (AAMLC) the Financing of Terrorism. Both the sixth AML Directive and the EU Single Rulebook Regulation came into force 20 days after their publication in the Official Journal of the EU. In terms of application, the sixth AML Directive will have to be transposed into local law by EU member states by 10 July 2027 (at which point the current fouth AML Directive, as amended by the sixth AML Directive, will be repealed), with some items of this sixth AML Directive being subject to earlier transposition deadlines (ie, with respect to the beneficial owner register) and one being subject to a later transposition deadline (ie, with respect to a sin - gle access point for real estate information). The EU Single Rulebook Regulation will apply from 10 July 2027 (except for some football-related provisions, which will come into effect at a later date).
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