6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD 6)

What it is

AMLD 6 (Directive (EU) 2018/1673 on combating money laundering by criminal law, plus subsequent revisions in the 2024 AML Package) is the directive that harmonises the criminal-law side of money laundering across EU Member States — what counts as money laundering, what predicate offences are covered, what sanctions and corporate liability apply.

What it changed

• Harmonised list of predicate offences. 22 categories — including environmental crime, cybercrime and tax crimes — that all Member States must treat as predicate offences to money laundering.
• Aiding and abetting, attempt, inciting are explicitly criminalised.
• Corporate liability. Legal persons can be held criminally liable for money laundering committed for their benefit.
• Minimum maximum penalties for natural persons (4 years imprisonment).

Where it sits in the 2024 AML Package

AMLD 6 is the criminal-law spine. Alongside it, the 2024 AML Package introduced the AMLR (the directly applicable Regulation that replaces the patchwork of national transpositions) and AMLA (the EU supervisor).