In the afternoon of December 2, 2022, at the Presidential Palace, the Office of the State President held a Press Conference to announce the Order of the State President of Vietnam announcing the Laws which had been passed by the 15th National Assembly at its 4th Session, including the Law on Anti-Money Laundering. Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended the Conference.
At the Press Conference, Mr. Pham Thanh Ha, Vice Chairman of the Office of the State President, announced the State President’s Order on the promulgation of the Laws which had been passed by the 15th National Assembly at its 4th Session. Among these Laws, on November 15, 2022, at its 4th Session, the 15th National Assembly had voted to pass Law No. 14/ 2022/QH15 on Anti-Money Laundering (hereinafter referred to as the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering), which takes effect from March 1, 2023 and replaces the 2012 Law on Anti-Money Laundering.
Mr. Pham Thanh Ha, Vice Chairman of the Office of the State President, announced the State President’s Order
Introducing the main contents of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that the formulation of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering aims to overcome the limitations and shortcomings of the 2012 Law on Anti-Money Laundering, contributing to improving the effectiveness of anti-money laundering (AML), developing a system of legal documents on AML in accordance with the international requirements and standards.
The new Law had been formulated based on the perspective of institutionalizing the policy and guidance of the Party and the Government on AML, ensuring the constitutionality and the consistency with the relevant legal documents, the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering has also inherited from the appropriate provisions of the 2012 Law on Anti-Money Laundering, overcoming the obstacles and inadequacies of the current regulations, meeting the new practical requirements. In addition, the formulation of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering also made references to and specifies several international standards on AML, with due consideration of Vietnam's socio-economic conditions.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh introduces the main contents of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering
Structured with 04 Chapters and 66 Articles, the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering is 01 Chapter fewer and 16 Articles more than the 2012 Law on Anti-Money Laundering. Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh also introduced the new key contents of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering, focusing on (i) the reporting subjects; (ii) the international cooperation on AML; (iii) the regulations on the national risk assessments and updates, and the reporting subjects related to money laundering; (iv) the regulations on customer identification, updating and verifying customer identification information; (v) the responsibilities for developing the internal regulations, and the reporting, provision and storage of information and documents on AML; (vi) the collection, processing, analysis, exchange, provision and transfer of information on AML, and the application of temporary measures; (vii) the responsibilities of the state management agencies in AML; and (viii) the provisions for the Law’s implementation.
Moreover, at the Press Conference, Mr. Ta Quang Don, Director General of the SBV Department of Legal Affairs, also answered some questions raised by the reporters about the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering.
Mr. Ta Quang Don, Director General of the SBV Department of Legal Affairs, answers reporters’ questions at the Press Conference
Mr. Ta Quang Don added that the SBV had been coordinating with the Ministry of Justice to submit to the Prime Minister for approval of the issuance of a number of specific regulatory documents to provide guidance for the implementation of the new Law based on the shortened sequences and procedures. Currently, the SBV is developing draft documents providing detailed guidance for the Law and is collecting comments on those drafts, trying to have these documents promulgated so as to have the same effective date with the effectiveness of the 2022 Law on Anti-Money Laundering, as required by the relevant provisions of the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents.
Le Hang