New COAF Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Resolution No. 36/2021 Comes into Force on June 1, 2021

Resolution No. 36/2021 (“Resolution”), which was published in March 2021 and will come into force on June 1, 2021, regulates the adoption of policies, procedures and internal controls to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of weapons of mass destruction (“AML/CFT/WMD Policy”). The Resolution intends to help companies that are supervised by the Financial Activities Control Council (“COAF”) comply with the provisions of Federal Law No. 9,613/1998 (“Anti-money Laundering Law” or “AML Law”).

Under the Resolution, the entities supervised by COAF must implement and maintain an AML/CFT/WMD policy designed to ensure compliance with the duties set forth by AML Law according to their size and volume of operations and in accordance with the risks inherent to their activities. The entire AML/CFT/WMD governance structure must be documented and made available to COAF for a period of five years.

The policy must be documented, approved by the legal entity’s officers and kept up to date.  It also must be disclosed to employees, suppliers, third parties, collaborators and partners. (Note: For entities that are part of a conglomerate or economic group—including those controlled by entities located abroad—the same AML/CFT/WMD policy can be adopted.)

An important innovation brought by the Resolution is the possible non-applicability of its provisions to entities with smaller operations as long as they can prove, through internal risk assessment, that there are no significant AML/CFT/WMD risks related to their activities.

Regarding the content of the AML/CFT/WMD policy, it must cover certain requirements, such as a formal commitment by senior management to the effectiveness and adequacy of the policy and related procedures and internal controls and include some other guidelines, such as procedures for  (i) assessing  potential new products and services, as well as the use of new technologies, for risks of money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing of weapons of mass destruction; (ii) internally assessing AML/CFT/WMD risks; (iii) promoting an organizational culture aware of AML/CFT/WMD risks; (iv) selecting and hiring employees, suppliers, third parties, collaborators and partners in view of the AML/CFT/WMD risks related to their activities; (v) continuously training employees on the subject of AML/CFT/WMD; and (vi) monitoring and analyzing atypical or suspicious situations and operations.