KEY DEFINITIONS IN THE ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING REGIME OF CAMEROON AND CEMAC

KEY DEFINITIONS IN THE ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING REGIME OF CAMEROON AND CEMAC

Additional Act: Additional Act No. 9/00/CEMAC-086/CCE 02 of December 14, 2000, establishing GABAC
Terrorist Act:

a) An act that constitutes an offense under the following treaties and according to their respective definitions:

(i) Convention for the Suppression of the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (1970),

(ii) Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1971),

(iii) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Offenses against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents (1973),

(iv) International Convention against the Taking of Hostages (1979),

(v) Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1980),

(vi) Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementing the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation (1988),

(vii) Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (1988),

(viii) Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (2005),

(ix) International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997) and

(x) Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999);

(b) Any other act intended to kill or seriously injure a civilian or any other person not directly taking part in hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, where, by its nature or context, the act is intended to intimidate a population or to compel a government or an international organization to do or refrain from doing any act.

Regional Financial Market Participants: Central structures (Stock Exchanges, Central Securities Depositories/Settlement Banks) and commercial participants (Asset Management and Brokerage Firms, Wealth Management Firms, Investment Advisors, Business Introducers, and Sales Agents);
Bearer Shares: Negotiable instruments that grant a share in the capital of a legal entity to the holder of a bearer share certificate;
Criminal Activity: All criminal or unlawful acts constituting an offense underlying money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation as defined by national law or international legal instruments.
ANIF: National Financial Investigation Agency
Perpetrator: Any person who commits one of the acts criminalized by this Regulation
Competent Authority: The authority which, under the legislation of the Member State, is empowered to carry out or order the acts or measures provided for by this Regulation;
Supervisory Authorities: National or Community authorities empowered, under a law or regulation, to supervise natural and legal persons
Prosecution Authority: The authority which, under the legislation of the Member State, is vested, even on an occasional basis, with the power to initiate proceedings for the enforcement of a sentence or a security measure
Judicial Authority: The body or person empowered, under the legislation of the Member State, to carry out acts of prosecution or investigation or to render judicial decisions;
Monetary Authority: Minister responsible for currency and credit in the Member State
Public Authorities: National and local government administrations of the Union, as well as their public institutions;
Beneficial Owner: The beneficial owner, i.e., the true owner of assets or the person on whose behalf the client is acting;
Sham Bank: A bank that has been established and licensed in a state where it has no physical presence and is not affiliated with a regulated financial group subject to consolidated and effective supervision. The term "physical presence" refers to the presence of management and decision-making authority in a country. The mere physical presence of a local agent or subordinate staff does not constitute a physical presence.
Beneficial Owner: The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer and/or the natural or legal person on whose behalf a transaction is carried out. This also includes persons who ultimately exercise effective control over a legal person or legal arrangement.
BEAC or Central Bank: Bank of the States of Central Africa;
Assets: Assets of any kind, tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, fungible or non-fungible, as well as documents or legal instruments in any form whatsoever, including electronic or digital, attesting to ownership of such assets or rights relating thereto.
Money laundering: An offense defined in Article 8 of these Regulations;
Designated categories of offenses:
participation in an organized criminal group and participation in racket;
terrorism, including its financing;
trafficking in human beings and the smuggling of migrants;
sexual exploitation, including the abduction and exploitation of minors;
illicit trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances;
illicit trafficking in arms;
illicit trafficking in stolen property and other property;
Corruption and embezzlement by persons holding public office;
Fraud;
Counterfeiting;
Counterfeiting of goods (including currency or banknotes) and product piracy;
Illegal trafficking of organs;
Environmental crimes;
Murder and grievous bodily harm;
Kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and hostage-taking;
Theft;
Smuggling (including smuggling related to taxes, customs duties, and excise duties);
Tax offenses (related to direct and indirect taxes);
Extortion; forgery;
Piracy;
Insider trading and market manipulation.
Occasional Client: Any person who contacts one of the persons subject to regulations, as defined in Articles 6 and 7 of these Regulations, for the sole purpose of preparing or carrying out a one-off transaction or being assisted in preparing or carrying out such a transaction, whether it is carried out in a single transaction or in several transactions appearing to be related to each other.
COBAC: Banking Commission of Central Africa
Accomplice: Any person who, either by instruction, incitement, provision of means, aid and assistance, or by any other means, facilitates the commission of one of the acts criminalized by these Regulations;
Ministerial Committee: Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union
Community or CEMAC: Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
Confiscation: The permanent dispossession of a person of property related to one of the offenses provided for in these Regulations or a national law, or of property of equivalent value, by decision of a competent court, a supervisory authority, or any other competent authority;
Legal Arrangements: Express trusts or similar legal arrangements;
Convention: The United Nations Convention of 9 December 1999 for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism;
Correspondence Banking: The provision of banking services by a bank, referred to as the "correspondent bank," to another bank, called the "client bank";
CRF: Financial Intelligence Unit;
EPNFD: Designated Non-Financial Enterprises and Professions;
Casinos, including online casinos;
Real estate agents and brokers;
Dealers in precious metals and gemstones and other high-value goods;
Lawyers, notaries, and other members of independent legal professions when preparing or executing transactions for a client in the following activities:
Buying and selling real estate;
Managing the client's capital, securities, or other assets;
Managing bank accounts, savings accounts, and securities accounts;
Arranging contributions for the formation, operation, or management of companies, or the formation, operation, or management of legal entities or structures, and the purchase and sale of business entities.
Independent accountants;
Service providers to companies and trusts, not covered elsewhere in these Regulations, who provide the following services, on a commercial basis, to third parties, by:
Acting as agents for the formation, registration, and management of legal entities, including trusts;
Acting or making the necessary arrangements for another person to act as a director or general secretary of a corporation, a partner in a partnership, or in a similar capacity for other legal entities;
Providing a registered office, business address or premises, an administrative or postal address to a corporation, a partner in a partnership, or any other legal entity or structure;
Intervening or making the necessary arrangements for another person to intervene, as an administrator of an express trust, or as a holder of a similar function for other legal entities;
Intervening or making the necessary arrangements for another person to intervene, as a shareholder acting on behalf of another person.

Other businesses or professions that may be designated by the competent authority;

Member State: A State party to the Treaty of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa;
Third State: Any State other than a Member State;
Requesting State: A State which, in the course of proceedings, submits a request for cooperation to another State under a bilateral or multilateral agreement;
Requested State: A State to which a request for cooperation is addressed under a previously established bilateral or multilateral agreement;
Financing of Proliferation: The financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
Financing of Terrorism: The offence defined in Article 9 of the regulations;
Funds and other financial resources: All financial assets and economic benefits of any kind, regardless of how they are acquired, including, but not limited to, cash, checks, receivables, drafts, payment orders and other payment instruments, deposits with banks and financial institutions, account balances, receivables and debt securities, traded securities and debt instruments, including shares and other equity securities, certificates of securities, bonds, promissory notes, warrants, unencumbered securities, derivative contracts, interest, dividends or other asset income or capital gains received on assets, credit, the right to set-off, guarantees, including performance guarantees or other financial commitments, letters of credit, bills of lading, sales contracts, any document evidencing the holding of units in a fund or financial resources, and any other financing instrument. Export;
GABAC: Central African Anti-Money Laundering Group
Freezing: The prohibition on transferring, converting, disposing of, assigning, or moving any property, equipment, or instrument, following a decision taken by a competent authority or court, within the framework of a freezing mechanism, and for the duration of the said measure, or until a confiscation or release order is issued by a competent court;
Serious Offense: An act constituting an offense punishable by a custodial sentence, the minimum term of which shall not be less than three (3) years;
Underlying Offense: Any offense, even if committed in the territory of another Member State or in that of a third State, which generates proceeds of criminal activity;
Government or Public Installation: Any installation or means of transport, whether permanent or temporary, which is used or occupied by representatives of a State, members of the Government, Parliament or the judiciary, or agents or personnel of a State or any other public authority or entity, or by agents or personnel of an intergovernmental organization, in the course of their official duties;
Financial Institution: Any person or entity that, on a commercial basis, carries out one or more of the following activities or operations in the name and on behalf of a client:
Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public, including private banking;
Loans, including consumer credit, mortgage loans, factoring with or without recourse, and trade finance;
Leasing, except for leasing of consumer goods;
Money and securities transfers;
Issuance and management of payment instruments;
Granting of guarantees and underwriting of commitments;
Negotiation on:
Money market instruments;
The foreign exchange market;
Currency, interest rate, and index instruments;
Securities;
Commodity futures markets.
Participation in securities issuances and provision of related financial services;
Individual and collective asset management;
Custody and administration of securities, in cash or liquid assets, on behalf of others;
Other investment, administration, or management operations involving funds or money on behalf of others;
Underwriting and placement of life insurance and other insurance-related investment products;
Currency exchange;
All other activities or operations determined by the competent authority.

The following are specifically designated as financial institutions:

1) banks and financial institutions with banking activities;

2) the financial services of postal services, as well as deposit and consignment offices or equivalent bodies, of the Member States;

3) insurance and reinsurance companies, insurance and reinsurance brokers;

4) mutual or cooperative savings and credit institutions, as well as structures or organizations not constituted as mutuals or cooperatives and whose purpose is the collection of savings and/or the granting of credit;

5) the central structures of the Regional Financial Market (Central African Stock Exchange, Central Depository/Settlement Bank) as well as Management and Intermediation Companies, Asset Management Companies, and all other commercial participants with the status of financial institution, as defined by the regulations governing the Regional Financial Market;

6) Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS);

7) Fixed Capital Investment Companies;

8) Authorized Currency Exchange Offices.

Foreign financial institutions: Financial institutions established in a third country;
Instrument: Any property used or intended to be used, in whole or in part, in any manner whatsoever, to commit a criminal offense;
Controlled Delivery: An operation consisting of allowing the passage through the territory of one or more countries of illicit or suspected illicit shipments, with the knowledge and under the control of the competent authorities of those countries, for the purpose of investigating an offense and identifying the persons involved in its commission.
UCITS: Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities;
Currency Exchange: The immediate exchange of banknotes or coins denominated in different currencies, carried out by the transfer or delivery of cash, against payment by another means of payment denominated in a different currency;
Criminal Organization: Any agreement or structured association with the aim of committing, in particular, offenses related to the financing of terrorism;
Non-profit Organization or Body: Any association, foundation, or non-governmental organization established in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, whose primary purpose is the collection or distribution of funds for charitable, religious, cultural, educational, social, or fraternal purposes, or for other types of good works;
Terrorist Organization: A structured association of more than two persons, established over time, and acting in concert with the aim of:
To commit or attempt to commit terrorist acts by any means, direct or indirect, unlawfully and deliberately;
To participate, as an accomplice, in terrorist acts;
To organize terrorist acts or incite others to commit them;
To contribute to the commission of terrorist acts by a group of persons acting with a common purpose, when this contribution is deliberate and aims to facilitate the terrorist act or is made with knowledge of the group's intention to commit a terrorist act.

The term "structured association" refers to an association that was not formed randomly to immediately commit an offense and that does not necessarily have formally defined roles for its members, continuity in its composition, or an elaborate structure.

Money Couriers: persons who carry out cross-border physical transport of cash or bearer negotiable instruments or who knowingly assist in such operations;
Listed Persons: natural or legal persons, as well as any organization, appearing on a list established by the Sanctions Committee in accordance with United Nations resolutions on the prevention and suppression of the financing of terrorist acts, or any other lists established by the Community, national, or third-country authorities.
PEPs: Politically Exposed Persons:
Foreign PEPs: natural persons who hold or have held prominent public office in another Member State or a third country, including, in particular:
Heads of State or Government, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Secretaries of State;
Family members of Heads of State;
Directors General of ministries;
Members of Parliament;
Leaders of political parties;
Members of supreme courts, constitutional courts, or other high courts, as well as other high-ranking magistrates;
Directors or members of the governing body of a central bank;
Ambassadors, chargés d'affaires, consuls general, and career consuls;
General officers or senior officers of the public forces, including high-ranking military personnel, gendarmes, and police officers;
Members of the administrative, management, or supervisory bodies of public or semi-public enterprises;
The heads of a public international institution established by treaty.
The family members of a person with a personal disability, in this case:
The spouse;
Any partner considered equivalent to a spouse;
Descendants and their spouses or partners;
Ascendants;
Privileged collateral relatives;
Persons known to be closely associated;
National PEPs: Natural persons who hold or have held important public functions in one of the CEMAC States, including the natural persons referred to in (a) to (k) above;
PEPs of International Organizations: Persons who hold or have held important functions within or on behalf of an international organization, including senior management members, including directors, deputy directors, and members of the Executive Board, and all persons holding equivalent positions.
Proceeds of Criminal Activity: Any funds derived, directly or indirectly, from the commission of an offence as defined in Article 9 of these Regulations, or obtained, directly or indirectly, through the commission of such an offence;
Proliferation: Any activity aimed at manufacturing, procuring, developing, possessing, transporting, transferring, or using nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons or their delivery systems, particularly for terrorist purposes.
Seizure: A temporary prohibition on the transfer, conversion, disposal, or movement of property, or the temporary assumption of custody or control of property, by order of a judicial or other competent authority.
Money or Securities Transfer Service: A financial service whose activity consists of accepting cash, checks, or any other payment instrument or deposit of valuables at a given location and paying an equivalent sum in cash or any other form to a beneficiary by means of a communication, message, transfer, or clearing system to which the money or securities transfer service belongs. This service may be provided by natural or legal persons using the regulated financial system or informally.
Business Relationship: A situation in which a person referred to in Article 7 of this Regulation enters into a professional or commercial relationship that is expected, at the time contact is established, to last for a certain period. The business relationship may be governed by a contract under which several successive transactions will be carried out between the contracting parties or which creates ongoing obligations for them. A business relationship is also established when, in the absence of such a contract, a client regularly benefits from the intervention of one of the aforementioned persons for the execution of several operations or an operation of a continuous nature or, in the case of the persons mentioned in point 4 of Article 6, for the execution of a legal mission.
Terrorist: Any natural person who:
commits or attempts to commit terrorist acts by any means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and deliberately;
participates, as an accomplice, in terrorist acts or in the financing of said acts;
organizes terrorist acts or incites others to commit them;
contributes to the commission of terrorist acts by a group of persons acting with a common purpose, when this contribution is intentional and aims to carry out the terrorist act, or when it is made with knowledge of the group's intention to commit a terrorist act;
Electronic Transfer: Any electronic transaction carried out in the name of an originator, whether a natural or legal person, through a financial institution for the purpose of making available to a beneficiary a certain sum of money in another financial institution, the originator and the beneficiary being the same person.

Illicit origin of capital or property

For the purposes of this Regulation, the origin of capital or property is illicit when it derives from the commission of one of the offences mentioned in point 20 of Article 1 or from any other offence provided for by national law.