Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds

A specified business operator (excluding a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlv) (referred to as an "attorney, etc." in Article 12); the same applies hereinafter) must, when conducting with a customer, etc. a transaction specified in the right-hand column of the Appended Table (referred to as a "specified transaction" in item (ii) of the following paragraph, excluding one that falls under the transactions prescribed in the first sentence of that paragraph) out of the business specified in the middle column of that table (hereinafter referred to as "specified business") corresponding to the category of specified business operator listed in the left-hand column of that table, verify the following matters concerning that customer, etc. by the method specified by order of the competent ministry.

identification data (meaning, for a natural person, the name, residence (for a foreign national who has no residence in Japan and is specified by Cabinet Order, the matters specified by order of the competent ministry) and date of birth, and for a corporation, the name and the location of its head office or principal office; the same applies hereinafter);

the purpose of the transaction;

in the case where the customer, etc. is a natural person, the occupation, and in the case where the customer, etc. is a corporation, the content of its business;

in the case where the customer, etc. is a corporation and there is a person specified by order of the competent ministry as being in a relationship that makes it possible to substantially control the management of its business, the identification data of that person.

A specified business operator must, when conducting with a customer, etc. a transaction falling under any of the following items out of its specified business, verify, as provided by order of the competent ministry, with respect to that customer, etc., the matters set out in the items of the preceding paragraph and, in the case where the transaction involves a transfer of property whose value exceeds the amount specified by Cabinet Order, the status of assets and income (for a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlvi), the matters set out in the items of the preceding paragraph). In this case, the verification of the matters set out in item (i) of that paragraph conducted upon a transaction listed in item (i), (a) or (b) is to be conducted by a method different from the method of verifying those matters taken when the related verification at the time of transaction prescribed in item (i), (a) or (b) was conducted, and the verification of the status of assets and income is to be conducted to the extent necessary for judging whether the case falls under one where notification under Article 8, paragraph (1) or (2) is to be made.

a transaction specified by Cabinet Order as falling under any of the following:

a transaction where the counterparty to the transaction is suspected of impersonating the customer, etc. or representative, etc. (meaning the representative, etc. prescribed in paragraph (6); the same applies in (b)) concerned in the verification under the preceding paragraph or this paragraph (including where these provisions are applied with replacement of terms pursuant to paragraph (5)) or paragraph (4) conducted at the time of another transaction related to that transaction (referred to as "related verification at the time of transaction" in (b));

a transaction with a customer, etc. suspected of having misrepresented the matters relating to the related verification at the time of transaction when it was conducted (including a customer, etc. whose representative, etc. is suspected of having misrepresented those matters).

among specified transactions, one with a customer, etc. who resides or is located in a country or region specified by Cabinet Order as one found not to have sufficiently established a system for prevention of transfer of criminal proceeds (hereinafter in this item referred to as a "specified country, etc."), or otherwise one involving a transfer of property to a person who resides or is located in a specified country, etc.;

in addition to those set out in the preceding two items, a transaction specified by Cabinet Order as one found to have a particularly high need for strict customer management for the prevention of transfer of criminal proceeds.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply to a transaction specified by Cabinet Order out of the transactions with a customer, etc. for whom the specified business operator has already conducted, at the time of another transaction, the verification under the provisions of that paragraph or the preceding paragraph (including where these provisions are applied with replacement of terms pursuant to paragraph (5)) (limited to a verification for which it has prepared, and is preserving, a verification record under Article 6) and the transactions specified by Cabinet Order as equivalent to them.

When a specified business operator conducts the verification under the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2) concerning a customer, etc., in the case where the representative of a company conducts with that specified business operator, on behalf of that company, a transaction prescribed in paragraph (1) or the first sentence of paragraph (2) (hereinafter referred to as a "specified transaction, etc."), or otherwise where the natural person actually in charge of the specified transaction, etc. with that specified business operator differs from that customer, etc. (excluding the case prescribed in the following paragraph), it must, in addition to that verification of that customer, etc., also verify the identification data of the natural person in charge of that specified transaction, etc., as provided by order of the competent ministry.

A customer, etc. and a representative, etc. (meaning the natural person actually in charge of the specified transaction, etc. prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs; the same applies hereinafter) must not, when a specified business operator conducts the verification under the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2) (including where these provisions are applied with replacement of terms pursuant to the preceding paragraph) or paragraph (4) (hereinafter referred to as "verification at the time of transaction"), misrepresent to that specified business operator the matters relating to that verification at the time of transaction.

When a customer, etc. or representative, etc. does not comply with verification at the time of transaction upon conducting a specified transaction, etc., the specified business operator may refuse to perform the obligations relating to that specified transaction, etc. until that customer, etc. or representative, etc. complies.

When a specified business operator has conducted verification at the time of transaction, it must immediately prepare, by the method specified by order of the competent ministry, a record (hereinafter referred to as a "verification record") of the matters relating to that verification at the time of transaction, the measures taken for that verification at the time of transaction, and other matters specified by order of the competent ministry.

A specified business operator must preserve a verification record for seven years from the day on which the contract relating to the specified transaction, etc. terminated or another day specified by order of the competent ministry.

A specified business operator (excluding a specified business operator prescribed in the following paragraph) must, in the case where it has conducted a transaction pertaining to specified business, except for a transaction of a small amount or other transaction specified by Cabinet Order, immediately prepare, by the method specified by order of the competent ministry, a record of the matters for searching the verification record of the customer, etc., the date and content of that transaction, and other matters specified by order of the competent ministry.

A specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), items (xlvi) through (xlix) must, in the case where it has carried out agency, etc. for specified mandated acts (meaning the agency, etc. for specified mandated acts prescribed in the middle column of the row for the persons listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlvi) in the Appended Table; the same applies hereinafter in this Article and in paragraph (2) of the following Article), except for agency, etc. for specified mandated acts specified by Cabinet Order, such as agency for the disposition of property of small value, immediately prepare, by the method specified by order of the competent ministry, a record of the matters for searching the verification record of the customer, etc., the date and content of that agency, etc. for specified mandated acts, and other matters specified by order of the competent ministry.

A specified business operator must preserve the records prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs (hereinafter referred to as "transaction records, etc.") for seven years from the day on which the transaction or the agency, etc. for specified mandated acts was carried out.

A specified business operator (excluding a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), items (xlvi) through (xlix)) must, with regard to a transaction pertaining to specified business, determine whether there is a suspicion that property received in that transaction is criminal proceeds, or that the customer, etc. is committing, in relation to that transaction, an act constituting the offense under Article 10 of the Organized Crime Punishment Act or the offense under Article 6 of the Narcotics Special Provisions Act, and if it finds that there is such a suspicion, must promptly notify the administrative agency of the matters specified by Cabinet Order, as provided by Cabinet Order.

A specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), items (xlvii) through (xlix) must, with regard to agency, etc. for specified mandated acts, determine whether there is a suspicion that property received in that agency, etc. for specified mandated acts is criminal proceeds, or that the customer, etc. is committing, in relation to that agency, etc. for specified mandated acts, an act constituting the offense under Article 10 of the Organized Crime Punishment Act or the offense under Article 6 of the Narcotics Special Provisions Act, and if it finds that there is such a suspicion, must promptly notify the administrative agency of the matters specified by Cabinet Order, as provided by Cabinet Order. However, this does not apply if those matters include matters that must not be divulged under the provisions of the Act specified in the respective items below in accordance with the category of specified business operator listed in the respective items.

a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlvii): Article 12 of the Certified Administrative Procedures Legal Specialist Act (Act No. 4 of 1951);

a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlviii): Article 27 of the Certified Public Accountants Act (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 16-2, paragraph (6) of that Act);

a specified business operator listed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (xlix): Article 38 of the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act (Act No. 237 of 1951).

The determination under the preceding two paragraphs must be made in light of the results of the verification at the time of transaction pertaining to the transaction under paragraph (1) or the agency, etc. for specified mandated acts under the preceding paragraph (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "transaction, etc."), the mode of that transaction, etc. and other circumstances, and the contents of the criminal proceeds transfer risk assessment report prescribed in Article 3, paragraph (3), and by a method of checking whether there is anything suspicious about that transaction, etc. in accordance with the items specified by order of the competent ministry, or by another method specified by order of the competent ministry.

A specified business operator (including its officers and employees) must not divulge the fact that it is about to make or has made a notification under the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2) (hereinafter referred to as a "suspicious transaction report") to the customer, etc. pertaining to that suspicious transaction report or to a person related to that person.