In application of the provisions of the present Decision, the following terms and expressions shall have the meanings assigned to them unless the context requires otherwise:

State: United Arab Emirates

Minister: Minister of Finance

Central Bank: Central Bank of United Arab Emirates

Governor: Governor of the Central Bank

Committee: National Committee for Anti- Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations.

FIU: Financial Intelligence Unit

Supervisory Authority: Federal and local authorities, which are entrusted by legislation to supervise Financial Institutions, Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions and Non-Profit Organisations or the competent authority in charge of approving the pursuit of an activity or a profession in case a supervisory authority is not assigned by legislations.

Law Enforcement Authorities: Federal and local authorities which are entrusted under applicable legislation to combat, search, investigate and collect evidences on the crimes including ML/FT and financing illegal organisations crimes.

Competent Authorities: The competent government authorities entrusted with the implementation of any provision of the Decretal-Law in the State.

Predicate Offence: Any act constituting an felony or misdemeanour under the applicable laws of the State whether this act is committed inside or outside the State when such act is punishable in both countries.

Money Laundering: Any of the acts mentioned in Clause (1) of Article (2) of the Decretal-Law.

Financing of Terrorism: Any of the acts mentioned in Articles (29) and (30) of Federal Law no. (7) of 2014 on combating terrorism offences.

Illegal Organisations: Organisations whose establishment is criminalised or which pursue a criminalised activity.

Financing of Illegal Organisations: Any physical or legal action aiming at providing funding to an illegal organisation, or any of its activities or members.

Crime: Money laundering crime and related Predicate Offences, or Financing of Terrorism or Illegal Organisations.

Funds: Assets in whatever form, whether tangible, intangible, movable or immovable including national currency, foreign currencies, documents or notes evidencing the ownership of those assets or associated rights in any form including electronic or digital forms or any interests, profits or income originating or earned from these assets.

Proceeds: Funds generated directly or indirectly from the commitment of any felony or misdemeanour including profits, privileges, and economic interests, or any similar funds converted wholly or partly into other funds.

Means: Any means used or intended to be used for the commission of an offence or felony.

Suspicious Transactions: Transactions related to funds for which there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they are earned from any felony or misdemeanour related to the financing of terrorism or of illegal organisations, whether committed or attempted.

Freezing or Seizure: Temporary restriction over the moving, conversion, transfer, replacement or disposition of funds in any form, by an order issued by a Competent Authority.

Confiscation: Permanent expropriation of private funds or proceeds or instrumentalities by an injunction issued by a competent court.

Financial Institutions: Anyone who conducts one or several of the financial activities or operations of /or on behalf of a Customer.

Intermediary Financial Institution: The Financial Institution that receives and sends wire transfer between the Ordering Financial Institution and the Beneficiary Financial institution or another Intermediary Financial Institution.

Beneficiary Financial Institution: The Financial Institution that receives a wire transfer from an Ordering Financial Institution directly or indirectly via an Intermediary Financial Institution and makes funds available to the beneficiary.

Financial Transactions or Activities: Any activity or transaction defined in Article (2) of the present Decision.

Designated Nonfinancial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs): Anyone who conducts one or several of the commercial or professional activities defined in Article (3) of the present Decision.

Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs): Any organised group, of a continuing nature set for a temporary or permanent time period, comprising natural or legal persons or not for profit legal arrangements for the purpose of collecting, receiving or disbursing funds for charitable, religious, cultural, educational, social, communal or any other charitable activities.

Legal Arrangement: A relationship established by means of a contract between two or more parties which does not result in the creation of a legal personality such as trusts or other similar arrangements.

Trust : A legal relationship in which a settlor places funds under the control of a trustee for the interest of a beneficiary or for a specified purpose. These assets constitute funds that are independent of the trustee's own estate, and the rights to the trust assets remain in the name of the settlor or in the name of another person on behalf of the settlor.

Settlor: A natural or legal person who transfers the control of his funds to a Trustee under a document.

Trustee: A natural or legal person who has the rights and powers conferred to him by the Settlor or the Trust, under which he administers, uses, and acts with the funds of the Settlor in accordance with the conditions imposed on him by either the Settlor or the Trust.

Customer: Anyone who performs or attempts to perform any of the acts defined in Articles (2) and (3) of the present Decision with any Financial Institution or Designated Non-Financial Business or Profession.

Transaction: All disposal or use of Funds or proceeds including for example: deposit, withdrawal, conversion, sale, purchase, lending, swap, mortgage, and donation.

Beneficial Owner: The natural person who owns or exercises effective ultimate control, directly or indirectly, over a Customer or the natural person on whose behalf a Transaction is being conducted or, the natural person who exercises effective ultimate control over a legal person or Legal Arrangement.

Business Relationship: Any ongoing commercial or financial relationship established between financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses and professions, and their Customers in relation to activities or services provided by them.

Correspondent Banking Relationship: Relationship between a correspondent financial institution and a respondent one through a current account or any other type of account(s) or through a service related to such an account and includes a corresponding relationship established for the purpose of securities transactions or transfer of funds.

Intermediary Account: Corresponding account used directly by a third party to conduct a transaction on its own behalf.

Financial Group: A group of financial institutions that consists of holding companies or other legal persons exercising the control over the rest of the group and coordinating functions for the application of supervision on the group, branch, and subsidiary level, in accordance with the international core principles for financial supervision, and AML/CFT policies and procedures.

Core Principles for Financial Supervision: Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) Principles 1-3, 5-9, 11-15, 26, and 29; International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Principles 1, 3-11, 18, 21-23, and 25; and International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Principles 24, 28, 29 and 31; and Responsibilities A, B, C and D.

Wire Transfer: Financial transaction conducted by a financial institution or through an intermediary institution on behalf of a transferor whose funds are received by a beneficiary in another financial institution, whether or not the transferor and the beneficiary are the same person.

Shell Bank: Bank that has no physical presence in the country in which it is incorporated and licensed, and is unaffiliated with a regulated financial group that is subject to effective consolidated supervision.

Registrar: The entity in charge of supervising the register of commercial names for all types of establishments registered in the State.

Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Process of identifying or verifying the information of a Customer or Beneficial Owner, whether a natural or legal person or a legal arrangement, and the nature of its activity and the purpose of the business relationship and the ownership structure and control over it for the purposes of the Decretal-Law and this Decision.

Controlled Delivery: The process by which a competent authority allows the entering or transferring of illegal or suspicious funds or crime revenues to and from the UAE for the purpose of investigating a crime or identifying the identity of its perpetrators.

Undercover Operation: The process of search and investigation conducted by one of the judicial impoundment officers by impersonating or playing a disguised or false role in order to obtain evidence or information related to the Crime.

High Risk Customer: A Customer who represents a risk either in person, activity, business relationship, nature of geographical area, such as a Customer from a high-risk country or non-resident in a country in which he does not hold an identity card, or a costumer having a complex structure, performing complex operations or having unclear economic objective, or who conducts cash-intensive operations, or operations with an unknown third party, or operations without directly confronting any other high risk operations identified by financial institutions, or designated non-financial businesses and professions, or the Supervisory Authority.

Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs): Natural persons who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions in the State or any other foreign country such as Heads of States or Governments, senior politicians, senior government officials, judicial or military officials, senior executive managers of state-owned corporations, and senior officials of political parties and persons who are, or have previously been, entrusted with the management of an international organisation or any prominent function within such an organisation; and the definition also includes the following:

1. Direct family members (Of the PEP, who are spouses, children, spouses of children, parents).
    
2. Associates known to be close to the PEP, which include:
    
   1. Individuals having joint ownership rights in a legal person or arrangement or any other close business relationship with the PEP.
       
   2. Individuals having individual ownership rights in a legal person or arrangement established in favour of the PEP.

Decretal- Law: Federal Decretal-Law No. (20) of 2018 on Anti- Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations.