The French AML framework beyond TRACFIN

The French AML framework is more than the TRACFIN SAR. Alongside the well-known déclaration de soupçon (covered in our TRACFIN piece), French law imposes systematic-declaration regimes, asset-freeze obligations under sanctions law, beneficial-owner-register access, and a sectoral overlay set by ACPR. This piece walks through the parts of the French AML framework that often get underestimated by passporting firms — the regimes that sit outside the SAR but are no less mandatory.

1. The full framework, in one paragraph

French AML obligations sit in the Code monétaire et financier (CMF), Articles L.561-1 and following, transposing the EU AML directives. Five distinct streams of obligation flow out of that framework:

1. Suspicious-activity reporting — the déclaration de soupçon to TRACFIN through the ERMES portal (already covered)
2. Systematic communications — the communications systématiques d’informations (COSI)
3. Asset freezes — the gels d’avoirs regime, supervised by the Direction Générale du Trésor
4. Beneficial-owner-register access — the French Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs (RBE)
5. Sectoral overlay — ACPR’s risk-assessment and inspection regime on top of the substantive rules

2. Systematic communications (COSI)

Distinct from SARs. Where a SAR is suspicion-driven, the COSI is a structured submission of operations falling into categories pre-defined by French regulation, regardless of suspicion. The Spanish equivalent is the DMO; the Italian equivalent runs through the daily Archivio Unico Antiriciclaggio.

The triggering categories include:

• Operations with parties in jurisdictions on the EU high-risk list or France’s own published list
• Specific high-amount cash operations
• Wire transfers above defined thresholds when routed through anonymous or pseudonymous channels
• Other categories defined by Décret in the application of Article L.561-15-1 CMF

Submission is through ERMES on the same channel as SARs, with a different submission type.

3. Asset freezes — the gels d’avoirs regime

Operational implications:

• Customer-base screening — at onboarding and continuously thereafter — against both the EU consolidated list and the French national list
• Transaction-time screening — for transactions touching counterparties identified as listed or potentially linked
• Immediate freeze of any matched asset, plus notification to the Direction Générale du Trésor within tight deadlines
• Reporting of declined transactions where the decline was driven by an asset-freeze match

The sanctions-screening shift introduced by the IPR applies in France with the additional national-list overlay. The French requirement is more extensive than the EU minimum.

4. The French RBE — Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs

France’s central beneficial-owner register, operated through the Mercantile-Registry infrastructure. The legal basis is in Article L.561-46 CMF, transposing the EU AML directives. Obligated subjects access it during AML due diligence on legal-entity customers.

Post-CJEU access reality:

• Following the 2022 CJEU ruling (C-37/20 and C-601/20), general-public access has been narrowed
• Obligated subjects performing AML due diligence retain access on the basis of their statutory function
• Public authorities (judicial, police, tax, TRACFIN) access independently
• Journalists and civil-society organisations access on a legitimate-interest basis

The Spanish counterpart is the Registro de Titularidades Reales.

5. ACPR’s sectoral overlay

ACPR supervises whether the firm has the right framework to detect and file. Inspections look at:

• The entity-level évaluation des risques — annual risk assessment
• The internal-control framework — conformité, contrôle permanent, contrôle périodique
• The transaction-monitoring rules — calibrated to the firm’s risk profile
• The investigation workflow — alert generation, triage, decision, filing
• The named-officer arrangement — déclarant and correspondant TRACFIN, plus the senior responsible officer at board level
• The training programme

The ACPR Sanctions Commission can impose fines on the firm and personally on the named déclarant under CMF Article L.612-39.

6. For passporting PSPs

An EME or EP authorised in another EU member state and operating in France on Freedom of Services or via a branch is an obligated subject under CMF for French-attributable activity. The full framework above applies, with one practical caveat: the AML representative for French activity (the déclarant TRACFIN) should be France-resident — see our AML representative across the EU piece.

7. FAQ

8. What to do, today

• Map your AML programme against the five French streams; identify gaps.
• Build customer-base screening against both the EU consolidated sanctions list and the French national gels d’avoirs register.
• Implement COSI submission alongside SAR submission — different submission type, same ERMES portal.
• Integrate RBE queries into the legal-entity onboarding flow with the result captured in the AML file.
• Document the entity-level risk assessment and refresh it annually.

Related: TRACFIN — filing in France · AML representative across the EU · Sanctions screening at instant-payment speed