C 15/8
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
16.1.2023
Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 17 November 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administratīvā rajona tiesa — Latvia) — SIA ‘Rodl & Partner’ v Valsts ieņēmumu dienests (Case C-562/20) (1) (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing — Directive (EU) 2015/849 — Article 18(1) and (3) — Point 3(b) of Annex III — Risk-based approach — Risk assessment carried out by obliged entities — Identification of risks by Member States and obliged entities — Customer due diligence measures — Enhanced due diligence measures — High-corruption-risk third countries — Article 13(1)(c) and (d) — Evidence and documentation requirements for obliged entities — Article 14(5) — Ongoing monitoring of customers by obliged entities — Publication of decisions imposing a sanction) (2023/C 15/07) Language of the case: Latvian Referring court Administratīvā rajona tiesa
Parties to the main proceedings Applicant: SIA ‘Rodl & Partner’
Defendant: Valsts ieņēmumu dienests
Operative part of the judgment 1.
Article 18(1) and (3) of 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) No 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, read in conjunction with Article 5 of and point 3(b) of Annex III to that directive,
must be interpreted as meaning that it does not require an obliged entity automatically to assign a high-risk level to a customer and therefore to adopt enhanced due diligence measures in respect of that customer solely because the customer is a non-governmental organisation, or one of the employees of that customer is a national of a high-corruption-risk third country, or a business partner of that customer, but not the customer itself, is linked to such a third country.
A Member State may, however, identify such circumstances in national law as factors indicative of a potentially higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, which obliged entities must take into account in their risk assessment of their customers, provided that those factors are in conformity with European Union law and, in particular, the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination.
2.
Article 13(1)(c) and (d) of Directive 2015/849, read in conjunction with Article 8(2), Article 13(4) and point (a) and of the first subparagraph of Article 40(1) of that directive,