11.1.2023
In monopol magazine, art lawyer Dr Pascal Decker spoke with editor-in-chief Elke Buhr about the requirements of money laundering prevention in the sale of art. The app LegeArtis, which he co-founded, is intended to help the art trade avoid money laundering.
The European legislator has successively tightened the requirements of so-called money laundering prevention for the art market. In the European Money Laundering Directive, which came into force at the beginning of 2020, all art market participants were mentioned for the first time in the circle of obligated parties, i.e. galleries, but also transport companies, warehouses and so on. Since then, the persons mentioned there must always observe the requirements of money laundering prevention when carrying out transactions.
Typically, such transactions take place at a trade fair. When you are standing in your fair bunk, you don't have the time to call your lawyer and say, please check my buyer's details here. That has to be digitised and standardised. LegeArtis is based on the idea of enabling this in the situation via an app. You scan the prospective buyer's or buyer's ID card, then it is examined in the research services accessible to the app, and after one or two minutes you get a result: a red, yellow or green flag. Green is unproblematic, yellow gives certain indications, red means: there is something wrong. The whole thing is documented in the app, so that in the event of an audit you can prove that you have fulfilled your obligations.
11.1.2023
In monopol magazine, art lawyer Dr Pascal Decker spoke with editor-in-chief Elke Buhr about the requirements of money laundering prevention in the sale of art. The app LegeArtis, which he co-founded, is intended to help the art trade avoid money laundering.
The European legislator has successively tightened the requirements of so-called money laundering prevention for the art market. In the European Money Laundering Directive, which came into force at the beginning of 2020, all art market participants were mentioned for the first time in the circle of obligated parties, i.e. galleries, but also transport companies, warehouses and so on. Since then, the persons mentioned there must always observe the requirements of money laundering prevention when carrying out transactions.
Typically, such transactions take place at a trade fair. When you are standing in your fair bunk, you don't have the time to call your lawyer and say, please check my buyer's details here. That has to be digitised and standardised. LegeArtis is based on the idea of enabling this in the situation via an app. You scan the prospective buyer's or buyer's ID card, then it is examined in the research services accessible to the app, and after one or two minutes you get a result: a red, yellow or green flag. Green is unproblematic, yellow gives certain indications, red means: there is something wrong. The whole thing is documented in the app, so that in the event of an audit you can prove that you have fulfilled your obligations.