All retail transactions above a €15,000 threshold will have to be communicated to ASAE which also will insist on knowing the means of payment.
This requirement was included in the 'prevention of money laundering' rules which came into force in September 2017, but are only now being implemented.
Retailers will have to ask customers fill out a form with their full name, date of birth, nationality, profession, employer, passport number and taxpayer number – then sign the document that has to be kept for seven years. Until now, this form has to be filled in only for cash purchases of over €15,000.
If the customer is buying for a company, the representative has to state the name of the beneficial owner of the business. Companies also must show they have an internal policy to prevent money laundering, train staff and have secure databases compatible with the new data protection regulations.
Traders already have criticised these new rules, saying the framework is "completely out of touch with our business reality," according to Luís Lopes, a trader and the president of the National Traders’ Association.
Lopes added, "It is a duplication of bureaucratic processes that are inhibiting the trade relationship," because people "do not like to give their personal data and it is very likely they will give up on the purchase."
The view of ASAE, the Food and Economic Safety Agency, is that its retail inspections will start off gently and then get harder as retailers learn the new rules and have no excuses for non-compliance.
