Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China (2024 Revision)

Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China (2024 Revision)

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China
(No. 38)

The Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China, revised and adopted at the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on November 8, 2024, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on January 1, 2025.

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
November 8, 2024

Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on October 31, 2006, and revised at the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on November 8, 2024)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Anti-Money Laundering Supervision and Administration
Chapter III Anti-Money Laundering Obligations
Chapter IV Anti-Money Laundering Investigation
Chapter V International Anti-Money Laundering Cooperation
Chapter VI Legal Liability
Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of preventing money laundering activity, curbing money laundering and related crimes, strengthening and regulating anti-money laundering work, and safeguarding the financial order, public interest, and state security.
Article 2 The term "anti-money laundering" as mentioned in the present Law refers to an act of adopting the relevant measures according to the provisions of the present Law to prevent any money laundering activity for the purpose of concealing or disguising, by all means, the sources and nature of criminal proceeds generated from any drug-related crime, organizational crime of any gangland, terrorist crime, crime of smuggling, crime of corruption or bribery, crime of disrupting the financial management order, crime of financial fraud, and other crimes.
This Law applies to the prevention of terrorist financing activities, unless otherwise provided for by any other law.
Article 3 Anti-money laundering work shall implement the Party and State's lines, principles, policies, decisions, and arrangements, uphold a holistic view of national security, improve the supervision and administration system and mechanism, and improve the risk prevention and control system.
Article 4 Anti-money laundering work shall comply with the law, ensure that anti-money laundering measures are commensurate with money laundering risk, guarantee normal financial services and smooth flow of funds, and safeguard the lawful rights and interests of entities and individuals.
Article 5 The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall take charge of the anti-money laundering supervision and administration throughout the country. The relevant departments under the State Council shall, within their respective scope of functions and duties, perform their obligations of anti-money laundering supervision and administration.
The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council, the relevant departments and oversight organs under the State Council and the judicial organs shall coordinate with each other in their anti-money laundering work.
Article 6 Financial institutions formed within the territory of the People's Republic of China ("within China") and specific non-financial institutions that are required to perform anti-money laundering obligations in accordance with this Law shall adopt preventive and monitoring measures in accordance with law, establish and improve an anti-money laundering internal control system, and perform anti-money laundering obligations such as client due diligence, preservation of client identity information and transaction records, reporting of large transactions and suspicious transactions, and special anti-money laundering preventive measures.
Article 7 Any client's identity material or transactional information, anti-money laundering investigation information, and other anti-money laundering information as acquired in the performance of the duties and functions of anti-money laundering according to law shall be kept confidential. None of the aforesaid information may be provided to any entity or individual in the absence of relevant provisions of law.
The clients' identity materials and transactional information as acquired by the anti-money laundering administrative department or any other department bearing the obligation of anti-money laundering supervision and administration according to law in the process of performing their anti-money laundering functions and duties shall only be used in anti-money laundering supervision, administration, and administrative investigation.
The clients' identity materials and transactional information as acquired by the judicial organ according to the present Law shall only be used in the anti-money laundering criminal litigation.
Relevant state organs shall protect state secrets, trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information in accordance with the law when using anti-money laundering information.
Article 8 Where any organ or functionary bearing the anti-money laundering obligation submits a report on large sum transaction or doubtful transaction or conducts other work according to the law, it shall be protected by law.
Article 9 An anti-money laundering administrative department works with relevant state organs to provide anti-money laundering public communication and education campaigns in various forms which communicate the illegality, harmfulness, and forms of money laundering activities to the public and enhance the public awareness of preventing such activities and their ability to identify the activities.
Article 10 An entity or individual may not engage in or facilitate money laundering activity, and shall cooperate with a financial institution or specific non-financial institution in client due diligence conducted in accordance with the law.
Article 11 Where any entity or individual finds any money laundering activity, it/he has the right to tip it off to the anti-money laundering administrative department, to the public security organ, or any other relevant state organ. The organ that accepts a tip-off shall keep confidential the tip-off maker as well as the tipped-off contents.
The entities and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to the anti-money laundering work shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with the relevant provisions issued by the state.
Article 12 Money laundering and terrorist financing activities outside the territory of the People's Republic of China ("outside China") that endanger the sovereignty and security of the People's Republic of China, harm the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations of the People's Republic of China, or disrupt the financial order in China are subject to disposition and result in legal liability in accordance with this Law and relevant laws and regulations.
Chapter II Anti-Money Laundering Supervision and Administration
Article 13 The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall organize and coordinate the anti-money laundering work throughout the country, take charge of the supervision over the anti-money laundering funds, formulate, by itself or in collaboration with the relevant financial regulatory department under the State Council, the provisions on the anti-money laundering administration of financial institutions, conduct supervision and examination on the performance of anti-money laundering obligations by financial institutions, investigate into doubtful transactions within the power limit of its functions and duties, and perform other duties and functions of anti-money laundering as prescribed by law or by the State Council.
A regional office of the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall, within the power limit as authorized by the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council, conduct supervision and examination of the performance of anti-money laundering obligations by financial institutions.
Article 14 A financial regulatory department under the State Council shall participate in the formulation of provisions on the anti-money laundering administration of the financial institutions under its supervision and administration and perform the other duties and functions of anti-money laundering as prescribed by law or by the State Council.
A financial regulatory department shall implement anti-money laundering review requirements in the market access of financial institutions. When discovering that a financial institution violates anti-money laundering provisions during supervision and administration, the relevant financial regulatory department shall transfer the clues to the anti-money laundering administrative department and cooperate with it in the disposition.
Article 15 A department of the State Council overseeing specific non-financial institutions shall formulate provisions on the anti-money laundering administration of specific non-financial institutions, or the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall formulate such provisions in conjunction with it.
A department overseeing specific non-financial institutions supervises and inspects the performance of anti-money laundering obligations by specific non-financial institutions, handles anti-money laundering supervision and administration proposals given by the anti-money laundering administrative department, and performs other anti-money laundering duties prescribed by laws and the State Council. A department overseeing specific non-financial institutions may, as necessary, request the anti-money laundering administrative department to assist in its supervision and inspection.
Article 16 The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall establish an anti-money laundering monitoring and analysis agency. The anti-money laundering monitoring and analysis agency shall monitor anti-money laundering funds, accept and analyze reports on large transactions and suspicious transactions, transfer analysis results, report on its work to the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council according to the relevant provisions and perform any other functions and duties as prescribed by the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council.
The anti-money laundering monitoring and analysis agency may, as needed for performing its duties according to the law, require institutions performing anti-money laundering obligations to provide additional information on large transactions and suspicious transactions.
The anti-money laundering monitoring and analysis agency shall improve the monitoring and analysis system, conduct monitoring and analysis in a targeted manner according to the money laundering risk profile, and feed back the use of suspicious transaction reports to institutions performing anti-money laundering obligations in accordance with applicable provisions, and continuously improve monitoring and analysis.
Article 17 The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council may, in order to perform its anti-money laundering duties, collect the necessary information from a relevant state organ, and the latter shall provide it in accordance with the law.
The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall regularly give notice of the progress in anti-money laundering work to the relevant state organs and provide necessary anti-money laundering information to the relevant state organs that perform supervision and administration, administrative investigation, oversight investigation, criminal prosecution, and other duties related to combating money laundering in accordance with the law.
Article 18 Where a person entering or exiting China carries cash or a bearer payment instrument, among others, in excess of the prescribed amount, he or she shall declare it with the customs in accordance with applicable provisions. Where the customs finds that any cash or bearer payment instrument that any person carries exceeds the prescribed sum, it shall report the case to the anti-money laundering administrative department in a timely manner.
The declaration scope, amount thresholds, and notification mechanism specified in the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council and the foreign exchange management department of the State Council in conjunction with the General Administration of Customs in accordance with the division of responsibilities.
Article 19 The anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments of the State Council, establish a system for managing beneficial owner information of incorporated and unincorporated organizations.
An incorporated or unincorporated organization shall preserve and promptly update the beneficial owner information, truthfully submit to the registration authority and promptly update the information in accordance with applicable provisions. The anti-money laundering administrative department and the registration authority shall manage the beneficial owner information in accordance with applicable provisions.
The anti-money laundering administrative department and relevant state organs may use beneficial owner information in accordance with the law as needed to perform their duties. Financial institutions and specific non-financial institutions shall access and verify beneficial owner information in accordance with the law when performing their anti-money laundering obligations; if they discover that the beneficial owner information is erroneous, inconsistent, or incomplete, they shall provide feedback in accordance with applicable provisions. When using beneficial owner information, they shall protect information security in accordance with the law.
For the purposes of this Law, "beneficial owner of an incorporated or unincorporated organization" means a natural person who beneficially owns or actually controls an incorporated or unincorporated organization, or enjoys the benefit of such an organization. The specific determination standards shall be formulated by the anti-money laundering administrative department of the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments of the State Council.
Article 20 Where the anti-money laundering administrative department or any other department bearing the obligation of anti-money laundering supervision and administration according to law suspects that there are money laundering and other related violations and crimes in transactions, it shall transfer clues and relevant evidential materials to an appropriate organ for disposition. The organ that receives the transferred case shall provide feedback on the disposition in accordance with relevant provisions.
Article 21 To perform the duty of supervision and administration in accordance with the law, the anti-money laundering administrative department may require financial institutions to report on their performance of anti-money laundering obligations, monitor and assess the risk of financial institutions, and evaluate the financial institutions' compliance with this Law and related administration provisions. If necessary, it may interview the directors, supervisors, officers and persons directly responsible for anti-money laundering work of financial institutions according to applicable provisions, requiring them to explain relevant matters, and remind financial institutions of problems in performing their anti-money laundering obligations.
Article 22 During supervision and inspection, the anti-money laundering administrative department may take the following measures:
(1) Entering a financial institution for inspection.
(2) Interviewing the staff of the financial institution and requiring them to explain the matters under inspection.
(3) Inspecting and copying any document or material related to the matters under inspection of the financial institution, and storing under seal any document or material that may be removed, concealed, or destroyed.
(4) Inspecting the computer network and information system of the financial institution, and retrieving and preserving relevant data and information from the computer network and information system.
The supervision and inspect......