Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point
Date: 2021-07-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: account, banking, cross-border cooperation, exchange of information, fight against crime, information system, money laundering, offence, organised crime, terrorism financing

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 20.7.2021  COM(2021) 429 final 2021/0244 (COD)  Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point {SWD(2021) 210 final}  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

• 
As  stressed  in  the  EU  strategy  to  tackle  organised  crime  2021-20251,  the  European  Union 
needs  to  step  up  the  fight  against  criminal  finances.  Organised  crime  groups  use  their 
substantial  illegal  profits  to  infiltrate  the  legal  economy  and  public  institutions,  eroding  the 
rule of law and fundamental rights and undermining people’s right to safety and their trust in 
public  authorities.  Illegal  revenues  generated  by  criminal  activities  in  the  EU  amounted  to 
€139  billion  in  20192,  corresponding  to  1%  of  its  gross  domestic  product.  Despite  the 
development of a legal  framework for asset recovery at EU and national  level, only a small 
percentage of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime is confiscated3.  

Swift  access  to  financial  information  is  key  to  effective  financial  investigations  and 
successfully  tracing  and  confiscating  the  instrumentalities  and  proceeds  of  crime.  In  this 
regard,  it  is  vital  to  know  who  holds  a  bank  account  in  a  Member  State  other  than  that 
carrying out the investigation: not only to be able to establish which Member State freezing 
and  confiscation  orders  are  to  be  sent  to4,  but  also  to  give  investigators  potentially  crucial 
leads. However, in order for authorities responsible for preventing, detecting, investigating or 
prosecuting  criminal  offences  in  one  Member  State  to  obtain  information  on  subjects  of  an 
investigation who hold bank accounts in another Member State, they currently have to collect 
the  information  via  police  cooperation  or  judicial  cooperation  channels.  This  is  an  often 
burdensome  and  time-consuming  process  that  hampers  speedy  access  to  the  information,  as 
shown  in  Annex  7  of  the  Impact  Assessment  accompanying  the  package  of  Commission 
legislative  proposals  regarding  Anti-Money  Laundering  and  Countering  Financing  of 
Terrorism (AML/CFT), and law enforcement.  

Pursuant to Article 32a of the (fifth) anti-money laundering directive5, Member States are to 
put in place centralised automated mechanisms, such as central registers or central electronic 
data retrieval systems, to allow the identification of any natural or legal persons holding or 
controlling payment accounts, bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes.  

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Commission  Communication  on  the  EU  Strategy  to  tackle  Organised  Crime  2021-2025  (COM(2021) 
170, 14.4.2021). 
This  covers  illicit  drugs,  trafficking  in  human  beings,  smuggling  of  migrants,  fraud  (‘missing  trader 
intra Community’ VAT fraud, infringements of intellectual property rights, food fraud), environmental 
crime (illicit  waste and illicit wildlife trafficking), illicit firearms, illicit tobacco, cybercrime activities 
and organised property crime (Study on Mapping the risk of serious and organised crime infiltration in 
legitimate businesses, March 2021, DR0221244ENN); https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2837/64101. 
Europol,  Does crime still pay? Criminal Asset Recovery  in the EU  – Survey of statistical information 
2010-2014, 2016; https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/does-crimestill-pay.  
On  the  basis  of  Council  Framework  Decision  2003/757/JHA  and  2006/783  JHA,  and  (as  of  19 
December 2020), Regulation (EU) 2018/1805. 
Directive  (EU)  2015/849  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20  May  2015  on  the 
prevention  of  the  use  of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist 
financing,  amending  Regulation  (EU)  648/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  and 
repealing  Directive  2005/60/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  and  Commission 
Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73). 

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Directive (EU) 2019/11536 already at present requires Member States to designate authorities 
competent for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences in 
order  for  them  to  access  and  search  the  centralised  automated  mechanisms  (referred  to  in 
Directive (EU) 2019/1153 as centralised bank account registries, term used hereafter).  It also 
requires them to include asset recovery offices among their designated competent authorities 
and  enables  Member  States  to  designate  tax  authorities  and  anti-corruption  agencies  as 
competent  authorities  to  the  extent  that  these  are  competent  for  the  prevention,  detection, 
investigation  or  prosecution  of  criminal  offences  under  national  law.  The  deadline  for 
transposing the Directive is 1 August 2021.  

Pursuant to the Commission’s proposal for a new anti-money laundering directive, which is 
being  presented  alongside  this  proposal,  Member  States  shall  ensure  that  the  information 
from  centralised  bank  account  registries  is  available  through  the  bank  account  registers 
(BAR)  single  access  point  to  be  developed  and  operated  by  the  Commission7.  By 
interconnecting centralised bank account registries, authorities with access to the BAR single 
access point would be able to establish quickly whether an individual holds bank accounts in 
other Member States without having to ask all their counterparts in all Member States. In line 
with  its  legal  basis  (Article  114  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union 
(TFEU)),  the  new  anti-money  laundering  directive  will  provide  access  to  the  BAR  single 
access  point  only  to  financial  intelligence  units  (FIUs),  the  national  body  which  receives 
suspicious  transaction  reports  from  obliged  entities8  and  forwards  them,  as  appropriate,  to 
criminal investigation authorities. However, in the interest of  combatting serious crime and, 
in  particular,  carrying  out  effective  financial  investigations  authorities  competent  for  the 
prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution  of  criminal  offences  also  need  to  have 
access  to  the  BAR  single  access  point  allowing  them  to  identify,  analyse  and  interpret  the 
financial information relevant for criminal proceedings. 

The present proposal seeks to extend access to the BAR single access point, as introduced by 
the  new  anti-money  laundering  directive,  to  the  authorities  competent  for  the  prevention, 
detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences that are designated as competent 
authorities pursuant to Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/1153.  

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

This  proposal  complements  the  provisions  on  the  BAR  single  access  point  included  in  the 
Commission proposal for the new anti-money laundering directive. 

The basis for the anti-money laundering framework (Article 114 TFEU) relates to the internal 
market and the aim is to prevent the use of the Union’s financial system for the purposes of 
money  laundering  and  terrorist  financing.  This  proposal  complements  and  builds  on  the 
preventive side of policies to counter money laundering and terrorist financing, and reinforces 
the legal framework from the point of view of law enforcement cooperation.  

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Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 laying down 
rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or 
prosecution of certain criminal offences (OJ L186 of 11.7.2019, p. 122). 
Commission proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 2021/XX. 
Legal  or  natural  person  within  the  scope  of  Anti-Money  Laundering  Directive  and  subject  to  Anti-
Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) rules. 

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This proposal is in line with the action plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing 
money  laundering  and  terrorist  financing  adopted  by  the  Commission  in  May  20209.  The 
action  plan  emphasises  that  the  Union-wide  interconnection  of  centralised  bank  account 
registries  is  necessary  to  speed  up  FIUs’  and  law  enforcement  authorities’  access  to  bank 
account  information  and  to  facilitate  cross-border  cooperation.  The  EU  Security  Union 
Strategy  (July  2020)10  also  stresses  that  such  interconnection  could  significantly  speed  up 
FIUs’ and competent authorities’ access to the financial information. The new EU strategy to 
tackle organised crime signals that the Commission will revise Directive (EU) 2019/1153 in 
the  future  platform 
order 
interconnecting centralised bank account registries across the Union. 

law  enforcement  authorities  with  access 

to  provide 

to 

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The proposed directive is in line with the Union’s policy aims, in particular the fight against 
serious  crime  as  well  as  with  the  framework  to  prevent  money  laundering  and  terrorism 
financing, including the new anti-money laundering package. 

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

In  line  with  the  legal  basis  used  to  adopt  the  legal  act  being  amended,  i.e.  Directive  (EU) 
2019/1153,  the  legal  basis  of  the  proposed  Directive  is  Article  87(2)  TFEU.  That  provision 
enables  the  Union  to  take  measures  on  police  cooperation  involving  the  Member  States’ 
competent  authorities  (including  police,  customs  and  other  specialised  law  enforcement 
services), in particular as regards the collection, storage and exchange of information relevant 
for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences. 

• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

In  accordance  with  the  principle  of  subsidiarity  as  set  out  in  Article  5(3)  of  the  Treaty  on 
European  Union  (TEU),  the  objectives  of  the  proposal  cannot  be  sufficiently  achieved  by 
Member States alone and can therefore be better achieved at Union level. The proposal does 
not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.  

Organised crime groups often operate across borders, inter alia in order to hide and reinvest 
their  illegally  obtained  assets.  The  threat  of  organised  crime  groups  channelling  their  illicit 
profits to infiltrate the economy affects the Union as a whole and therefore requires an EU-
level response.  

• 

Proportionality 

In  accordance  with  the  principle  of  proportionality,  as  set  out  in  Article  5(4)  TEU,  this 
proposal  is  limited  to  what  is  necessary  and  proportionate  in  order  to  facilitate  the  use  and 
sharing of relevant financial information by the public authorities that have a duty to protect 
Union citizens.  

Directive (EU) 2019/1153 gives access to a limited set of information only (e.g. the owner’s 
name, bank account number), which is strictly necessary to ascertain whether the subject of an 

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Commission  Communication  on  an  Action  Plan  for  a  comprehensive  Union  policy  on  preventing 
money laundering and terrorist financing (COM(2020) 2800, 7.5.2020). 
Commission Communication on the EU Security Union Strategy (COM (2020) 605, 24.7.2020). 

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investigation holds an account  with  a bank  and  with which banks. The same limitation  will 
also  apply  in  relation  to  the  access  and  search  possibilities,  through  the  BAR  single  access 
point, created by the present proposal.  

Accordingly, competent authorities of other Member States will be able to directly access and 
search  the  following  limited  set  of  information  through  the  BAR  single  access  point  (see 
Article  4(2)  in  conjunction  with  Article  2(7)  of  Directive  (EU)  2019/1153;  see  also  Article 
32a(3)  of  the  current  Anti-Money  Laundering  Directive,  as  well  as  Article  14(3)  of  the 
proposed  new  Anti-Money  Laundering  Directive  and  Article  18(1)  of  proposed  new  Anti-
Money Laundering Regulation): 

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for  the  customer-account  holder  and  any  person  purporting  to  act  on  behalf  of  the 
customer: the name, complemented by either the other identification data required or 
a unique identification number; 

for the beneficial owner of the customer-account holder: the name, complemented by 
either the other identification data required or a unique identification number; 

for  the  bank  or  payment  account:  the  International  Bank  Account  Number  (IBAN) 
and the date of account opening and closing; 

for  the  safe-deposit  box:  name  of  the  lessee  complemented  by  either  the  other 
identification data required under or a unique identification number and the duration 
of the lease period. 

Pursuant  to  the  measures  hereby  proposed,  authorities  competent  for  the  prevention, 
detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences will therefore still not be able to 
access and search sensitive data, such as information on transactions or the accounts balance. 
Only information strictly required to identify a holder of a bank or payment account or a safe 
deposit box will be made accessible through the BAR single access point. Once the authorities 
identify, by virtue of the access provided under this proposal, with which financial institution 
the subject of an investigation holds a bank account in another Member State, they will, where 
deemed  necessary,  have  to  request  further  information  (e.g.  a  list  of  transactions)  via 
appropriate police or judicial cooperation channels. 

• 

Choice of instrument 

This  proposal  takes  the  form  of  a  directive,  as  it  involves  amending  Directive  (EU) 
2019/1153.  

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EX-POST 

EVALUATIONS, 

OF 

STAKEHOLDER 

Views from other Institutions and stakeholder consultations 

In  the  June  2020  Council  conclusions  on  enhancing  financial  investigations  to  fight  serious 
and  organised  crime11,  Member  States  called  on  the  Commission  to  consider  further 
enhancing the legal framework by interconnecting national centralised bank account registries 
so  as  to  speed  up  access  to  financial  information  and  facilitate  cross-border  cooperation 
between competent authorities across the Union.  

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Council conclusions on enhancing financial investigations to fight serious and organised crime, 17 June 
2020 (8927/20). 

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in its resolution of 10 July 202012, the European Parliament welcomed the Commission’s plan 
to ensure interconnection of centralised bank account registries in order to speed up access to 
financial  information  for  law  enforcement  authorities’  and  FIUs’  access  to  financial 
information  in  different  investigation  phases  and  facilitate  cross-border  cooperation  in  full 
compliance with applicable data protection rules. 

In the course of preparing this proposal, the Commission consulted asset recovery offices in 
meetings  of  the  Asset  Recovery  Offices  Platform  and  through  an  informal  and  targeted 
consultation. They fully supported the initiative. 

• 

Impact assessment 

The  proposal  is  supported  by  the  impact  assessment  on  the  proposed  new  anti-money 
laundering  package  (in  particular  its  Annex  7  on  the  interconnection  of  bank  account 
registries), on which the Regulatory Scrutiny Board issued a positive opinion on 4 December 
2020.  A  staff  working  document,  which  is  annexed  to  the  proposal,  further  analyses  the 
situation and the impacts of enlarging the access  to the interconnected system of centralised 
bank  account  registries  also  to  the  authorities  competent  for  the  prevention,  detection, 
investigation or prosecution of criminal offences designated under Directive 2019/1153.  

• 

Fundamental rights 

This  proposal  will  provide  clearly  designated  authorities  competent  for  the  prevention, 
detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences with access to the interconnected 
system  of  centralised  bank  account  registries,  the  BAR  single  access  point.  This  will  allow 
them to establish quickly whether an individual holds bank accounts in other Member States, 
without having to request to all their counterparts in all EU Member States.  

The  centralised  bank  account  registries  centralise  personal  data  relating  to  legal  and  natural 
persons. Extending access to the BAR single access point will therefore have an impact on the 
fundamental rights of the data subjects, in particular with the right to privacy and the right to 
the protection of personal data (Articles 7 and 8, respectively, of the Charter of Fundamental 
Rights of the European Union (‘Charter’)).  

Any resulting limitations on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognised by the Charter, 
in particular those laid down in its Articles 7 and 8, comply with the requirements set by the 
Charter, in particular those of its Article 52(1).  

The  limitation  is  provided  for  by  law  and  is  justified  by  the  need  to  pursue  an  objective  of 
general interest recognised by the Union, namely, combating serious crime.  

Furthermore,  the  essence  of  the  rights  and  freedoms  in  question  are  respected  and  the 
limitations are proportionate to the objective pursued.  

With regard to the right to privacy, the impact is limited, especially as this proposal does not 
require the collection of additional account-holder data and considering that the information 
from other Member States that is accessible via the BAR single access point can already be 
obtained  through  police  and  judicial  cooperation  channels.  Moreover,  the  interference  with 

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European Parliament resolution of 10 July 2020 on a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money 
laundering  and  terrorist  financing  –  the  Commission’s  Action  Plan  and  other  recent  developments 
(2020/2686(RSP)). 

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the  right  to  privacy  will  be  relatively  limited  in  terms  of  gravity  as  the  accessible  and 
searchable  data  does  not  cover  financial  transactions  or  account  balance.  It  will  cover  a 
limited  set  of  information  (e.g.  the  owner’s  name  and  bank  account  number),  as  strictly 
required by the competent authority of a given Member State to establish with which bank(s) 
in other Member States the subject of an investigation holds an account. 

With  regard  to  the  protection  of  personal  data  of  natural  persons,  information  on  bank 
accounts can constitute personal data and access to this data by authorities competent for the 
prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution  of  criminal  offences  authorities  would 
constitute  processing  of  personal  data.  The  processing  of  data  from  the  centralised  bank 
account registries accessed and searched by these authorities through the BAR single access 
point  would  be  subject  to  the  national  laws  transposing  Directive  (EU)  2016/680,  as  is 
presently the case for data accessed and searched on the basis of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 as 
it stands at present.  

In addition, the safeguards and limitations already provided for in Directive (EU) 2019/1153 
will  also  apply  in  respect  of  any  direct  access  or  search  by  designated  authorities  to  or  in 
centralised  bank  account  registries  of  other  Member  States  through  the  BAR  single  access 
point. It concerns in particular the safeguards and limitations provided for in Articles 3, 4, 5 
and 6 of that Directive, which notably provide for the following: 

 

 

 

 

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only authorities competent for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution 
of  criminal  offences  that  have  been  designated  by  Member  States  will  be  able  to 
access and search the centralised bank account registries, including through the BAR 
single  access  point  (Article  3(1)  in  conjunction  with  the  new  Article  4(1a)  of  the 
Directive).  

the  power  to  access    and  search  the  centralised  bank  account  registries,  including 
through the BAR single access points is granted only for the purpose of prevention, 
detecting,  investigating  or  prosecuting  ‘serious  criminal  offences’  or  supporting  a 
criminal  investigation  concerning  ‘serious  criminal  offences’  (Article  4(1)  and  new 
(1a) of the Directive). Serious criminal offences in this context refer to the forms of 
crime  listed  in  Annex  I  to  Regulation  (EU)  2016/79413  (Article  2(12)  of  the 
Directive). 

as set out above, only a limited set of the information in the centralised bank account 
registries,  as  strictly  required  to  ascertain  whether  the  subject  of  an  investigation 
holds  an  account  with  a  bank  and  with  which  banks,  is  accessible  and  searchable, 
including  through  the  BAR  single  access  point  (e.g.  the  owner’s  name  and  bank 
account number) (Article 4(2) in conjunction with Article 2(7)).  

access and searches, including when conducted through the BAR single access point, 
have to be performed case by case by specifically designated and authorised staff in 
each competent authority (Article 5(1) and (2)). Member States must put measures in 
place  to  ensure  the  security  of  the  data  to  high  technological  standards  for  the 
purposes of accessing and searching bank account information (Article 5(3)). 

Regulation  (EU)  2016/794  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  May  2016  on  the 
European  Union  Agency  for  law  Enforcement  Cooperation  (Europol)  and  replacing  and  repealing 
Council  Decisions  2009/371/JHA,  2009/934/JHA,  2009/935/JHA,  2009/936/JHA  and  2009/968  JHA 
(OJ L 135, 24.5.2016, p. 53). 

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 

logs of any access and searches, including when conducted through the BAR single 
access point, have to be kept (Article 6(1)). These logs have to be checked regularly 
by the data protection officers for the centralised bank account registries, and made 
available, on request, to the competent supervisory authority (Article 6(2)). The logs 
may  be  kept  for  data  protection  monitoring  only,  must  be  protected  by  appropriate 
measures against unauthorised access and must be erased 5 years after their creation, 
unless they are required for monitoring procedures (Article 6(3)). 

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The proposal has no implications for the EU budget. 

5. 

• 

OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

The  act  to  be  amended  (Directive  (EU)  2019/1153)  already  provides  for  appropriate 
monitoring, reporting and evaluation.  

• 

Explanatory documents (for directives) 

The proposal does not require explanatory documents for transposition.  

• 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

Article 1 amends Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2019/1153 and provides  designated authorities 
competent for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences with 
the  possibilities  to  directly  access  and  search  centralised  bank  account  registries  of  other 
Member States through  the BAR single access point.  

Article 2 sets the deadline for the Member States’ transposition of the new directive. 

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2021/0244 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as 
regards access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through 
the single access point 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 87(2) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee14,  
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions15, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

14 
15 
16 

17 

Facilitating access to financial information is necessary to prevent, detect, investigate 
or prosecute serious crime, including terrorism. In particular, swift access to financial 
information  is  essential  for  carrying  out  effective  criminal  investigations  and  for 
successfully  tracing  and  subsequently  confiscating  instrumentalities  and  proceeds  of 
crime. 
Directive  (EU)  2019/1153  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council16  enables 
authorities  competent  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution  of 
criminal offences designated by Member States to access and search, subject to certain 
safeguards  and  limitations,  bank  account  information.  Directive  (EU)  2019/1153 
defines  bank  account  information  as  certain  information  contained  in  the  centralised 
automated  mechanisms  that  Member  States  set  up  pursuant  to  Directive  (EU) 
2015/849  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council17,  referred  to  in  Directive 
(EU) 2019/1153 as centralised bank account registries.  

OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 laying down 
rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or 
prosecution  of  certain  criminal  offences,  and  repealing  Council  Decision  2000/642/JHA  (OJ  L186  of 
11.7.2019, p. 122). 
Directive  (EU)  2015/849  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20  May  2015  on  the 
prevention  of  the  use  of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist 
financing,  amending  Regulation  (EU)  648/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  and 
repealing  Directive  2005/60/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  and  Commission 
Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73). 

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(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

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The authorities designated under Directive (EU) 2019/1153 include at least the Asset 
Recovery Offices and can also include tax authorities and anti-corruption agencies to 
the  extent  that  they  are  competent  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  or 
prosecution  of  criminal  offences  under  national  law.  Pursuant  to  that  Directive,  the 
competent authorities are empowered to directly access and search only the centralised 
bank account registries of the Member State that designated those authorities.   
Directive (EU) YYYY/XX  of the European Parliament and of the Council,18 , which 
replaces  Directive  2015/849  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council19,  and 
retains  the  key  features  of  the  system  established  by  that  Directive,  provides,  in 
addition,  that  the  centralised  automated  mechanisms  are  interconnected  via  the  bank 
account  registers  (BAR)  single  access  point,  to  be  developed  and  operated  by  the 
Commission. However, under Directive (EU) YYYY/XX only FIUs continue to have 
direct    access  to  the  centralised  automated  mechanisms,  including  through  the  BAR 
single access point. 

Considering the cross-border nature of organised crime and money laundering as well 
as  the  importance  of  relevant  financial  information  for  the  purposes  of  combating 
criminal  activities,  including  by  swiftly  tracing,  freezing  and  confiscating  illegally 
obtained  assets  where  possible  and  appropriate,  authorities  competent  for  the 
prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal  offences designated in 
accordance  with  Directive  (EU)  2019/1153  should  be  able  to  directly  access  and 
search  the  centralised  bank  account  registries  of  other  Member  States  through  the 
BAR single access point put in place pursuant to Directive (EU) YYYY/XX. 

The  safeguards  and  limitations  already  established  by  Directive  (EU)  2019/1153 
should  also  apply  in  respect  of  the  possibilities  to  access  and  search  bank  account 
information,  through  the  BAR  single  access  point,  established  by  the  present 
Directive. These safeguards and limitations include those concerning the limitation to 
the authorities that have the power to access and search bank account information, the 
purposes for which the access and search may be conducted, the types of information 
that  are  accessible  and  searchable,  requirements  applicable  to  the  staff  of  the 
designated competent authorities, the security of the data and the logging of access and 
searches.  

Any processing of personal  data by the competent  authorities in  connection with  the 
access  and  search  possibilities  established  by  this  Directive  is  subject  to  Directive 
(EU)  2016/680  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council20.  Therefore,  this 
Directive  respects  the  fundamental  rights  and  observes  the  principles  recognised  by 
Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights 
of the European Union, in particular the right to respect for one’s private and family 
life and the right to the protection of personal data. 

[Reference to new Anti-Money Laundering Directive, once adopted.] 
Directive  (EU)  2015/849  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20  May  2015  on  the 
prevention  of  the  use  of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist 
financing,  amending  Regulation  (EU)  648/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  and 
repealing  Directive  2005/60/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  and  Commission 
Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73). 
Directive  (EU)  2016/680  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  27  April  2016  on  the 
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for 
the  purposes  of  the  prevention,  investigation,  detection  or  prosecution  of  criminal  offences  or  the 
execution  of  criminal  penalties,  and  on  the  free  movement  of  such  data,  and  repealing  Council 
Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 89) 

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(8) 

(9) 

Given that the objective of this Directive, namely  to  empower designated authorities 
competent  for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution  of  criminal 
offences to access and search the centralised bank account registries of other Member 
States through the BAR single access point established by Directive (EU) YYYY/XX , 
cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States, but can be better achieved at Union 
level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity 
as  set  out  in  Article  5  of  the  Treaty  on  European  Union.  In  accordance  with  the 
principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond 
what is necessary in order to achieve this objective. 

[In  accordance  with  Article  3  of  Protocol  No  21  on  the  position  of  the  United 
Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed 
to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union, Ireland has notified its wish to take part in the adoption and application of this 
Directive.] 
[or]  

[In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Protocol No 21 on the position of the United 
Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed 
to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union, and without prejudice to Article 4 of that Protocol, Ireland is not taking part in 
the adoption of this Directive and is not bound by it or subject to its application.]  

(10) 

In  accordance  with  Articles  1  and  2  of  Protocol  No  22  on  the  position  of  Denmark, 
annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the 
European  Union, Denmark is  not  taking part in  the adoption of this  Directive and is 
not bound by it or subject to its application. 

(11)  Directive (EU) 2019/1153 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(12)  The  European  Data  Protection  Supervisor  was  consulted  in  accordance  with  Article 
42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council21 
[and delivered an opinion on XX 2021], 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

In Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2019/1153, the following paragraph is inserted: 

Article 1 

 “1a.  Member  States  shall  ensure  that  the  competent  national  authorities 
designated  pursuant  to  Article  3(1)  have  the  power  to  access  and  search, 
directly  and  immediately,  bank  account  information  in  other  Member  States 
available through the bank account registers (BAR) single access point put in 
place  pursuant  to  Article  XX  of  Directive  (EU)  YYYY/XX  [the  new  Anti-
Money  Laundering  Directive]  when  necessary  for  the  performance  of  their 
tasks  for  the  purposes  of  preventing,  detecting,  investigating  or  prosecuting  a 
serious  criminal  offence  or  supporting  a  criminal  investigation  concerning  a 

21 

Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the 
protection of  natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, 
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).  

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serious  criminal  offence,  including  the  identification,  tracing  and  freezing  of 
the assets related to such investigation.”.   

Article 2 

1. 

Member  States  shall  bring  into  force  the  laws,  regulations  and  administrative 
provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by [XXYY] [transposition period 
to  be  aligned  with  the  application  date  set  by  the  new  Anti-Money  Laundering 
Directive  for  the  application  of  the  provisions  for  interconnecting  the  centralised 
automated  mechanism]  at  the  latest.  They  shall  forthwith  communicate  to  the 
Commission the text of those provisions. 

When  Member  States  adopt  those  provisions,  they  shall  contain  a  reference  to  this 
Directive  or  be  accompanied  by  such  a  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their  official 
publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. 

2. 

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 3 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States in accordance with the Treaties. 

Done at Brussels, 

Article 4 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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