The Legal Affairs Committee of the National Council rejected the Federal Council's draft.

The Federal Council's new plan to strengthen the integrity of the Swiss financial centre is on the rise. The Legal Affairs Committee of the National Council rejected the draft by 13 votes to 9, with 3 abstentions.

In March, the National had refused the entry into the matter on the project. The main criticism is that the category of advisers is subject to the Money Laundering Act. This fall, senators removed that category from the bill.

On Friday, the committee initially decided to enter into the matter on the project. It followed the decision of the Council of States concerning the councillors by 15 votes to 9, said Friday the services of the Parliament. Subjecting this profession to the law seriously calls into question the professional secrecy of lawyers.

Like the senators, the committee proposes to make the notion of "well-founded suspicion" more restrictive. The Money Laundering Reporting Office will be informed only if the suspicion is confirmed by further clarifications.

The commission also struck out a provision for dealers in precious metals and stones. They will not be obliged to apply due diligence obligations if they receive more than CHF 15,000 in cash as part of an operation. The threshold will remain set at 100,000. These proposals will be submitted to the plenum if it decides to enter into the matter on the government's project.

In the end, the commission rejected the project. According to her, the decisions have diluted the law too much. The project does not allow to get out of the enhanced supervision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In the view of the minority, it is necessary for Switzerland to modernise the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

GAPS
The draft provides for a series of measures to address the shortcomings identified by the experts. Associations running the risk of being exploited for the purpose of financing terrorism or money laundering will have to register in the commercial register.

All associations bound by this obligation must also draw up a list of their members and be able to be represented by a person domiciled in Switzerland. An explicit legal basis will be created for the obligation to verify the identity of the beneficial owner.

The draft also provides for a general and explicit obligation to periodically check the timeliness of customer data. Data that is no longer current will need to be updated.