The regulation in matter of compliance, per se, is closely linked with the birth of the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF, by its acronyms in Spanish), entity created pursuant to the Law 973, “Law Creator of the Financial Analysis Unit”, published on June 22nd, 2012 and its Decree 07 of 2013, “Regulation of the Financial Analysis Unit”, published on February 8th, 2013.
Despite its importance, both regulations were abrogated and substituted this year 2018 by virtue of the Law 976, “Law of the Financial Analysis Unit”, published on July 20th, 2018 and Decree 14-2018, “Regulation of the Law 976, Law of the Financial Analysis Unit”, published on October 3rd, 2018.
The object of said legal tools is to regulate the organization, attributions, faculties and functionality of the Financial Analysis Unit. Some of the newest aspects introduced by the referred Law 976 are the followings:
(i) Specification of the penalties to the Compelled Subjects, its directors, managing directors and compliance officers, which may go from the ordering of corrective measures to imposition of fines, temporal suspension of operations of a Compelled Subject and removal of the position as compliance officer.
(ii) Cooperation in matter of supervision and exchange of information of UAF, both national and international; faculty that allows said entity, among other things, to subscribe agreements with national authorities or foreign counterpart entities, to exchange information about supervision.
In parallel to the referred normative instruments, it was also approved the Law 977, “Law against Asset Laundering, Terrorist Funding and Financing to the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” and Decree 15-2018, “Regulation of the Law 977”, which aims to protect the national economy and the integrity of the financial system of the risks associated to the Asset Laundering, Terrorist Funding and Financing to the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, to establish mechanisms based on a risk approach to promote and strengthen the prevention, investigation, persecution and penalty of the AL/TF/FP, implement financial measures adopted by the United Nations Security Council and other international organizations of which Nicaragua is part, related to TF/FP topics, among others.
The abovementioned legal tools come to strengthen the national legislation, based in the main international standards about the fight against the Asset Laundering, Terrorist Funding and Financing to the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Associate
García & Bodán
Nicaragua