From February 1, 2023, the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On the Prevention of the Legalization of Criminally Obtained Funds or Other Property and the Financing of Terrorism” No. 767-IIIQ dated February 10, 2009, has been abolished. As a result, two new laws have been adopted and entered into
force on February 1, 2023: (i) The New Law On Prevention of the Legalization of Criminally Obtained
Property and the Financing of Terrorism No. 781-VIQ dated December 30, 2022, and (ii) The Law On Targeted Financial Sanctions No.782-VIQ dated December 30, 2022.
Thus, the New Law On Prevention of the Legalization of Criminally Obtained Property and the Financing of Terrorism shall regulate relations between the Azerbaijan citizens, foreigners, stateless persons, legal persons, foreign legal arrangements, as well as supervisory bodies and other state authorities (bodies) for the purposes of detection and prevention of the acts related to the legalization of criminally obtained property and the financing of terrorism. Nevertheless, the Law On Targeted Financial Sanctions defines the legal basis and rules for the application of targeted financial sanctions for the purposes of prevention of terrorism, financing of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Unlike the previous law, the New Law On Prevention of the Legalization of Criminally Obtained Property and the Financing of Terrorism defines active service providers, non-financial institutions and professionals, foreign legal arrangements, electronic
transfers, high-risk zones, predicate offences and the relationships arising therefrom, as well as the application of new technologies and predicate offences. Additionally, with this New Law, during the application of customer due diligence measures the limit of the financial transaction has increased from
AZN 15,000 to AZN 20,000.
The new Law On Targeted Financial Sanctions introduces the rules of inclusion and exclusion of the names of to be sanctioned natural persons and organizations to the intra-state and international lists for the purposes of prevention of terrorism, financing of terrorism. As a result, the assets of these natural persons and organizations shall be freezed, and their provision of assets, economic resources or financial and other related services shall be prohibited. Consequently, the names of the to be
sanctioned natural persons and organizations
in the international lists will be included and
excluded by the United Nations Security
Council; in terms of intra-state lists - shall be
included and excluded based on the decisions
of the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan.