Pursuant to the Belgian Code of Economic Law, the following information is provided to consumer clients and others who conclude a contract in the usual place of practice of the legal profession:
The lawyer is required, under the law the law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash, to comply with various legal obligations in relation to the identification of his client or principal.
He will be required to request all documents needed to establish their identity and will take copies of them.
The information to be provided by the customer varies depending on whether the customer is a natural person, a legal entity or an authorised representative.
Clients will be asked to inform the lawyer as soon as possible of any change in their situation and to provide proof of this.
When the nature of the case (assistance to the client in the preparation or execution of transactions such as the purchase or sale of real estate or commercial enterprises; management of securities funds or other assets belonging to the client or his principal; opening or management of bank, savings or portfolio accounts; organisation of the contributions necessary for the constitution, management or direction of companies ; constitution, management or direction of trusts, companies or similar structures or interventions in the name and on behalf of the client in all financial and real estate transactions) or when the particular situations provided for by the aforementioned law of 18 September 2017 (country of origin, difficulties of identification, unusual relationship between the client and the lawyer or the nature of the operations, public figure or similar) impose on the lawyer an obligation of reinforced vigilance.
The lawyer will only intervene if the client undertakes to answer any questions from the lawyer enabling him to comply with his legal obligations with regard to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
When the lawyer assists the client in his legal defence or when he provides legal advice (assessment of the client’s legal situation), he is bound by strict professional secrecy.
However, the law requires lawyers to inform the President of the Bar whenever they become aware of facts that they suspect to be related to money laundering or the financing of terrorism, outside the scope of their legal representation or legal advice.
The President of the Bar, who is the guarantor of professional secrecy, will forward any suspicious transaction report to the CTIF (Financial Intelligence Processing Unit).
