CHAPTER VIII MEASURES TO MITIGATE RISKS DERIVING FROM ANONYMOUS INSTRUMENTS

1.   Credit institutions, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers shall be prohibited from keeping anonymous bank and payment accounts, anonymous passbooks, anonymous safe-deposit boxes or anonymous crypto-asset accounts as well as any account otherwise allowing for the anonymisation of the customer account holder or the anonymisation or increased obfuscation of transactions, including through anonymity-enhancing coins.

Owners and beneficiaries of existing anonymous bank or payment accounts, anonymous passbooks, anonymous safe-deposit boxes held by credit institutions or financial institutions, or crypto-asset accounts shall be subject to customer due diligence measures before those accounts, passbooks, or deposit boxes are used in any way.

2.   Credit institutions and financial institutions acting as acquirers within the meaning of Article 2, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2015/751 of the European Parliament and of the Council (46) shall not accept payments carried out with anonymous prepaid cards issued in third countries, unless otherwise provided for in the regulatory technical standards adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 28 of this Regulation on the basis of a proven low risk.

3.   Companies shall be prohibited from issuing bearer shares, and shall convert all existing bearer shares into registered shares, shall immobilise them within the meaning of Article 2(1), point (3), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, or deposit them with a financial institution by 10 July 2029. However, companies with securities listed on a regulated market or whose shares are issued as intermediated securities either through immobilisation within the meaning of Article 2(1), point (3), of that Regulation or through a direct issuance in dematerialised form within the meaning of Article 2(1), point (4), of that Regulation shall be permitted to issue new and maintain existing bearer shares. For existing bearer shares that are not converted, immobilised or deposited by 10 July 2029, all voting rights and rights to distribution attached to those shares shall be automatically suspended until their conversion, immobilisation or deposit. All such shares not converted, immobilised or deposited by 10 July 2030 shall be cancelled, leading to a share capital decrease of the corresponding amount.

Companies shall be prohibited from issuing bearer share warrants that are not in intermediated form.

1.   Persons trading in goods or providing services may accept or make a payment in cash only up to an amount of EUR 10 000 or the equivalent in national or foreign currency, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several operations which appear to be linked.

2.   Member States may adopt lower limits following consultation of the European Central Bank in accordance with Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC (47). Those lower limits shall be notified to the Commission within 3 months of the measure being introduced at national level.

3.   When limits already exist at national level which are below the limit set out in paragraph 1, they shall continue to apply. Member States shall notify those limits to the Commission by 10 October 2024.

4.   The limit referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply to:

Payments or deposits referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b) above the limit shall be reported to the FIU within the deadlines imposed by the FIU.

5.   Member States shall ensure that appropriate measures, including the imposition of penalties, are taken against natural or legal persons acting in their professional capacity which are suspected of a breach of the limit set out in paragraph 1, or of a lower limit adopted by the Member States.

6.   The overall level of the penalties shall be calculated, in accordance with the relevant provisions of national law, in such way as to produce results proportionate to the seriousness of the infringement, thereby effectively discouraging further offences of the same kind.

7.   Where, by reason of force majeure, means of payment by funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 other than banknotes and coins become unavailable at national level, Member States may temporarily suspend the application of paragraph 1 or, where applicable, of paragraph 2 of this Article and shall inform the Commission thereof without delay. Member States shall also inform the Commission of the expected duration of the unavailability of means of payment by funds as defined in Article 4, point (25), of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 other than banknotes and coins and of the measures taken by Member States to reinstate their availability.

Where, on the basis of the information communicated by the Member State, the Commission considers that the suspension of the application of paragraph 1 or, where applicable, of paragraph 2 is not justified by a case of force majeure, it shall adopt a decision addressed to that Member State requesting the immediate lifting of such suspension.