Tipping-off — the prohibition and its exceptions
The tipping-off rule is broader than “don’t tell the customer you filed a report”. Article 73 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 prohibits disclosing that transactions or activities are being assessed, that information is being, will be or has been transmitted, or that a money laundering or terrorist financing analysis is being, or may be, carried out. The prohibition therefore bites well before any report exists — and it binds agents and distributors as well as employees.
1. What is prohibited, and who is bound
The article names three distinct disclosures, and the tense of each is the point:
- that transactions or activities are being or have been assessed under Article 69;
- that information is being, will be or has been transmitted under Article 69 or 70;
- that an ML/TF analysis is being, or may be, carried out.
The persons bound are obliged entities and their directors, employees, or persons in comparable positions, including agents and distributors. For a payment or e-money institution operating through an agent or distributor network, that is the operative words: the network is inside the prohibition, so agent training and scripts are a compliance artefact, not a commercial one.
The persons protected are the customer concerned and other third persons — so an internal disclosure that reaches a third party, or a disclosure to a counterparty’s staff, is caught just as a direct one is.
2. The exceptions
| Provision | Permitted disclosure |
|---|---|
| Article 73(2) | To competent authorities, and to self-regulatory bodies where they perform supervisory functions; and for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activity |
| Article 73(3) | Between obliged entities in the same group, and between such entities and their branches and subsidiaries in third countries — provided those branches and subsidiaries fully comply with the group-wide policies and procedures under Article 16, and those policies comply with the Regulation |
| Article 73(4) | Between certain obliged entities referred to in Article 3, point (3)(a) and (b), or equivalent third-country entities, subject to the conditions the article sets |
The group exception is conditional rather than automatic. It depends on the third-country branch or subsidiary fully complying with the group-wide policies and procedures, including the information-sharing procedures required by Article 16 — so a group that has not evidenced that compliance cannot rely on the derogation.
3. The other side: disclosure to the FIU is protected
Article 72 provides that disclosure of information to the FIU in good faith by an obliged entity is protected. Read with Article 73, the structure is symmetrical: the route to the authority is protected, and every other route is closed unless an express exception applies.
FAQ
Does the prohibition apply before a report is filed?
Yes. It covers disclosing that activity is being assessed and that an analysis is being, or may be, carried out — both of which precede any filing.
Are agents and distributors covered?
Expressly, yes. Article 73(1) names agents and distributors alongside directors, employees and persons in comparable positions.
Can we tell our parent company?
Only under the Article 73(3) group derogation, and only where the conditions are met — including full compliance by third-country branches and subsidiaries with Article 16 group-wide policies and procedures.
Related: The AMLA STR format · AMLR governance · AML record retention
