AML obligations

As a result of the amendment of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML) Act of 1 March 2018, the Register of Activities for the benefit of Companies or Trusts has been in place in the Polish AML system since 31 October 2021. Entities providing services that qualify as services for the benefit of companies or trusts have been required to obtain an entry in the Register.

Who is affected by the obligation to register?

The obligation to register with the register is incumbent on entrepreneurs who provide services consisting in:

• creation of a legal person or an organisational unit without legal personality;
• acting as a member of the board of directors or enabling another person to exercise that function or a similar function in a legal person or unincorporated entity;
• the provision of a registered office, business or correspondence address and other related services to a legal person or unincorporated entity;
• acting or enabling another person to act as trustee of a trust created by a legal transaction;
• acting or enabling another person to act as a person exercising rights over shares for an entity other than a company listed on a regulated market subject to disclosure requirements under European Union law or subject to equivalent international standards.

In practice, special attention must be paid by entrepreneurs who provide (e.g., under a lease agreement) real estate to legal persons or unincorporated organisational entities as their registered office address or as the address at which these entities will conduct their activity or have their correspondence address. Such an activity qualifies as an activity requiring registration.

What is the deadline for obtaining an entry in the register?

Entrepreneurs who plan to commence the activities covered by the registration requirement on or after 31 October 2021 should obtain the registration of the Registry before actually carrying out such activities.

In contrast, entrepreneurs trading as companies or trusts before 31 October 2021 had until 30 April 2022 to make an entry.

How to make an entry

Entry into the Register is made on the basis of an application submitted electronically via the ePUAP platform to the Director of the Tax Administration Chamber in Katowice.

The application to the Register must include.

• name or business name;
• the number in the Register of Entrepreneurs in the National Court Register, if such a number has been assigned, and the tax identification number (TIN);
• indication of services provided to companies or trusts;
• a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature or the personal signature of the applicant.

A statement of awareness of the criminal liability for making false statements will be included in the application.

Additional requirements imposed on providers of services to companies or trusts

The Act introduces the requirement that the partners, members of the board of directors, persons managing activities in the entity for the benefit of companies or trusts and tangible beneficiaries of the entity providing services to companies or trusts have not been duly convicted of an intentional offence against the activities of state institutions and local self-government, against the administration of justice against the credibility of documents, against property, against economic turnover and interests in civil law transactions, against money and securities, a terrorist offence, an offence committed for financial or personal gain or an intentional fiscal offence.

In addition, the aforementioned persons must have knowledge or experience relating to activities for companies or trusts, which is deemed to be fulfilled in the case of:

• Completion of a training or course covering legal or practical issues relating to activities for companies or trusts;
• the performance, for a period of at least one year, of activities relating to companies or trusts, evidenced by appropriate documents.

… what are the penalties for non-entry?

An entrepreneur who carries out activities for the benefit of companies or trusts without obtaining an entry in the register of activities for the benefit of companies or trusts is subject to a fine of up to PLN 100,000.