The Money Laundering Act (GwG) obliges you as an economic operator operating in Germany to cooperate in the prevention of money laundering. The persons and companies obliged to cooperate are therefore also referred to as "obliged entities". These include, among others

• Credit institutions, financial companies,
• insurance companies,
• casinos,
• Lawyers and notaries public,
• auditors and tax consultants,
• real estate agents,
• traders in goods,
• art brokers.

Regardless of the value of the asset concerned or the amount of the transaction, under certain conditions you are obliged to immediately send a suspicious activity report to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The FIU is a directorate within the General Directorate of Customs.

The reporting obligation applies regardless of

• regardless of the value of the asset or the amount of the transaction
• and the method of payment (cash or non-cash).

The threshold value of EUR 10,000 (or EUR 2,000 in certain cases) specified in the Money Laundering Act relates to the general due diligence obligations for traders in goods and art brokers and not to the reporting obligation.

Failure to prevent money laundering, which also includes the prevention of terrorist financing, can have serious consequences for you. For breaches of duty under the Money Laundering Act that constitute an administrative offense and do not require a direct link to a money laundering offense,

• fines of up to EUR 150,000 may be imposed for willful violations and fines of up to EUR 100,000 for reckless violations, depending on the individual case.
• In the case of serious, repeated and systematic violations, the amount of the fine can even be up to EUR 5 million or up to 10 percent of the previous year's turnover.