Combating money laundering and terrorist financing operations means participating in a system for gathering information to detect risks and fraudulent behavior.
To achieve this, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has drawn up forty recommendations, which member states have undertaken to comply with.
The European Union then introduced European directives to transform these recommendations into European standards. Among the most recent, the 5th Directive, still requires increased vigilance and systematic risk assessment on the part of all those involved in the art market.
Atnational level, the French Treasury is responsible for transposing the European legal framework into national LCB-FT regulations.
When a risk is detected, art professionals must turn to TRACFIN, the financial intelligence unit. Its role is to receive reports from the private sector and disseminate information on suspected money laundering or terrorist financing operations to the investigating authorities, notably the DGSE and DGSI.
To ensure that European directives are properly applied, agents from the French Customs and Excise Department (Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects) inspect art professionals. If Customs inspectors detect any breaches in the application of the law, the case will be referred to the Commission Nationale des Sanctions (CNS), which will be responsible for imposing sanctions in accordance witharticle L. 561-38 of the Code Monétaire et Financier.