Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

These two amendments change the period of time for which documents and records must be kept from six years to five. They also provide that the period of time for which records relating to transactions and services will be kept will be five years from the date on which the transaction or service is completed or discontinued, regardless of whether the business relationship applies. This means that the time period will be the same, from the date on which the transaction or series of transactions is completed or discontinued, regardless of whether the transaction takes place in the context of a business relationship or in the context of a once-off or occasional transaction. The same principle will apply in relation to a service in the case of the new section 55(4)(e). The text of sections 55(5) and 55(6) arises from the fact that section 32 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 is being repealed in this Bill. These provisions will ensure that the current money laundering record-keeping requirements, which are set out in section 32(9) of the 1994 Act, will continue to apply.

Amendment No. 25 changes the subsection references to cater for the other amendments and additional subsections involved. Article 30 of the EU money laundering directive provides that records must be kept for a period of at least five years. Of course this does not preclude a member state from applying a longer period of time. The Bill did provide for a period of not less than six years, but amendment No. 24 will change this to five years. Various pieces of domestic legislation in respect of record-keeping provide for periods of five and six years. Following further consideration it was decided that it would be more appropriate to apply the five-year threshold, which applies in most other member states.

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