Source: AMLA final report draft
- Anti-money laundering
AMLR supplemental acts
- RTS on customer due diligence
Article 17 Identification of politically exposed persons
This is a draft act
This text has been parsed from the AMLA final report draft as published on 30 September 2026. While we run a suite of validations, the automated parsing can result in errors. Also, before it is finally adopted by the Commission, its wording, numbering and references may change, and entire articles might be removed or added.
Earlier drafts: AMLA consultation paper draft (9 February 2026)
Summary What does Article 17 of the RTS on customer due diligence say?
This article sets out the practical requirements for how obliged entities must identify politically exposed persons (PEPs), their family members, and close associates.
It builds directly on Article 20(1)(g) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, which establishes the broader obligation to identify PEPs, and translates that obligation into concrete procedural steps.
The article covers two distinct scenarios: screening before a business relationship or transaction begins, and ongoing monitoring of existing customers to catch cases where PEP status may have changed over time.
It also specifies the triggers and frequency for that ongoing screening.
Important points:
- Screen customers, beneficial owners, and relevant third parties for PEP status before establishing a business relationship or carrying out an occasional transaction.
- Re-screen existing customers on a risk-sensitive basis, and without delay when new information arises or when the official list of prominent public functions is updated.
- Put in place tools and measures — automated, manual, or a combination — that are effective and proportionate to the nature, risks, complexity, and size of your business.
Springlex's summary of the article is a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
To identify a PEP, a family member, or person known to be a close associate of a PEP, pursuant to Article 20(1), point (g), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, obliged entities shall determine:
with the exception of the situations referred to in Article 44 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, before establishing a business relationship or carrying out an occasional transaction, if the customer, the beneficial owner of the customer and, where relevant, the person on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being carried out, is a PEP, a family member, or person known to be a close associate; and
whether existing customers, the beneficial owner of the customer and, where relevant, the person on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being carried out are or have become PEPs, family members or persons known to be close associates of a PEP.
The determination specified in paragraph 1, point (b), shall take place:
with a frequency established on the basis of a risk-sensitive approach;
without delay in case of new information or changes in the information collected for the purposes of performing customer due diligence measures that may have an impact on the identification as a PEP, a family member or person known to be a close associate;
without delay in case of updates to the list of prominent public functions published pursuant to Article 43(5) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624.
To comply with paragraphs 1 and 2, obliged entities shall put in place tools and measures that may consist of automated screening tools, manual checks or a combination thereof. These tools and measures shall be effective and proportionate to the nature of the obliged entity's business, including its risks and complexity, and the size of the obliged entity.
Springlex and this text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. No liability is assumed for its content. The authentic version of this act is the one published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Definition
politically exposed person
- in a Member State:
- heads of State, heads of government, ministers and deputy or assistant ministers;
- members of parliament or of similar legislative bodies;
- members of the governing bodies of political parties that hold seats in national executive or legislative bodies, or in regional or local executive or legislative bodies representing constituencies of at least 50 000 inhabitants;
- members of supreme courts, of constitutional courts or of other high-level judicial bodies, the decisions of which are not subject to further appeal, except in exceptional circumstances;
- members of courts of auditors or of the boards of central banks;
- ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and high-ranking officers in the armed forces;
- members of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of enterprises controlled under any of the relationships listed in Article 22 of Directive 2013/34/EU either by the state, or, where those enterprises qualify as medium sized or large undertakings or medium sized or large groups, as defined in Article 3(3), (4), (6) and (7) of that Directive, by regional or local authorities;
- heads of regional and local authorities, including groupings of municipalities and metropolitan regions, with at least 50 000 inhabitants;
- other prominent public functions provided for by Member States;
- in an international organisation:
- the highest ranking officials, their deputies and members of the board or equivalent functions of an international organisation;
- representatives to a Member State or to the Union;
- at Union level:
functions at the level of Union institutions and bodies that are equivalent to those listed in points (a) (i), (ii), (iv), (v) and (vi);
- in a third country:
functions that are equivalent to those listed in point (a);
Definition
parent undertaking
- for groups whose head office is located in the Union, an obliged entity that is a parent undertaking as defined in Article 2, point (9), of Directive 2013/34/EU that is not itself a subsidiary of another undertaking in the Union, provided that at least one subsidiary undertaking is an obliged entity;
- for groups whose head office is located outside of the Union, where at least two subsidiary undertakings are obliged entities established in the Union, an undertaking within that group established in the Union that:
- is an obliged entity;
- is an undertaking that is not a subsidiary of another undertaking that is an obliged entity established in the Union;
- has a sufficient prominence within the group and a sufficient understanding of the operations of the group that are subject to the requirements of this Regulation; and
- is given the responsibility of implementing group-wide requirements under Chapter II, Section 2 of this Regulation;
Definition
family member
- a spouse, or a person in a registered partnership or civil union or in a similar arrangement;
- a child and a spouse of, or a person in a registered partnership or civil union or in a similar arrangement with, that child;
- a parent;
- for the functions referred to in point (34)(a)(i) and equivalent functions at Union level or in a third country, a sibling;
Definition
express trust
Definition
legal arrangement
Definition
group
Definition
third country
Definition
person known to be a close associate
- a natural person who is known to have joint beneficial ownership of legal entities or legal arrangements, or any other close business relations, with a politically exposed person;
- a natural person who has sole beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement which is known to have been set up for the de facto benefit of a politically exposed person;
Definition
beneficial owner
Definition
business relationship