The Belgian State Gazette published on Friday 6 October 2017 the law of 18 September 2017 preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism and limiting the use of cash. The Law replaces the law of 11 January 1993 and introduces several changes into the Belgian AML regime, mainly concerning the introduction of a register of beneficial owners, the risk-based approach, whistle-blowing and increased sanctions.

The Law aims at transposing Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing and to implement the FATF recommendations.

To clarify the Belgian regime and make it more readable, the Parliament decided to repeal the law of 11 January 1993. However, the major principles underlying the Belgian anti-money laundering system have been maintained.

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