Dear Valued Clients,<\/p>\n

We trust this newsletter finds you well We are writing to bring your attention to a significant development that affects all high-value dealers within our sector.<\/p>\n

Recent changes in legislation have officially designated the jewellery industry as an accountable institution under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA). This move aims to enhance transparency and combat financial crimes related to high-value goods.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On 19 December 2022, a new category was added to the list of accountable institutions in Schedule 1 of the FICA, 2001, as one of the steps to address gaps in South Africa\u2019s anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism policies. This law may apply to your business.<\/p>\n

A high-value goods dealer (HVGD) \u2013 Item 20 of Schedule\u00a01 to FICA
\n<\/strong>Item 20 in Schedule 1 to FICA provides as follows: A HVGD includes \u201ca person who carries on the business of dealing in high-value goods in respect of any transaction where such a business receives payment in any form to the value of R100 000,00 or more, whether the payment is made in a single operation or in more than one operation that appears to be linked, where \u2018high-value goods\u2019 means any item that is valued in that business at R100 000,00 or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

This definition is intended to cover a wide range of trading activity.\u00a0Based on preliminary guidance from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), this category of accountable institutions includes, among others, dealers in precious metals, precious stones and diamonds.<\/p>\n

A HVGD also includes dealers in antiques, collectibles, fine art, boats, aircraft and luxury motor vehicles where the value is equal to or more than R100 000.<\/p>\n

The following obligations are imposed on accountable institutions in terms of FICA.<\/p>\n

An accountable institution must:<\/p>\n

\n
• Register with the FIC as soon as possible using the FIC\u2019s online registration and reporting system called\u00a0goAML.<\/a>\u00a0Registration with the FIC is free.<\/li>\n
• Develop and implement a risk management and compliance programme (RMCP). A RMCP deals with an institution\u2019s necessary processes and procedures to comply with FICA obligations by following a risk-based approach;<\/li>\n
• implement customer identification and verification processes, and conduct customer due diligence;<\/li>\n
• appoint a compliance officer and in some cases money-laundering reporting officers, if required; and<\/li>\n
• regularly train employees on FICA compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  To register, click here :\u00a0https:\/\/goweb.fic.gov.za\/goAMLWeb_PRD\/WebRegistration\/NewEntityCR<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/mark>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

  Directive 7 of 2023: Submission of a risk and compliance return to the FIC by specified accountable institutions
  \n<\/strong>Directive 7 was issued by the FIC on 31 March 2023 and applies to all accountable institutions listed in inter alia item 20 (this applies to high-value goods dealers). It instructs accountable institutions to submit information on their understanding of money laundering and related financial crimes, together with their assessment of compliance with obligations in terms of FICA, in a risk and compliance return. The submission date of the \u2018risk and compliance return questionnaire\u2019 is\u00a031\u00a0July 2023<\/u>\u00a0(reporting will be from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023).<\/p>\n

  Here\u2019s a link to the online portal:\u00a0\u00a0RISK COMPLIANCE RETURN QUESTIONNAIRE (office.com)<\/a><\/strong><\/mark><\/span><\/p>\n

  Side note: This return is to see what your understanding is in terms of FICA and what processes and policies you have in place.\u00a0 If you have no \/ little understanding of FICA or processes in place, just be honest.\u00a0 Even if you answer no to everything.\u00a0 This is how FIC will be able to assess where more training, education and assistance are needed.\u00a0 They have given a lot of leeway for submission as the deadline has long passed.\u00a0 But if you submit your return now, the chances of being penalised are greatly diminished.<\/p>\n

  As the jewellery industry embraces this new era of accountability, we encourage you to view FICA compliance not only as a regulatory obligation but also as an opportunity to strengthen your business practices and contribute to the integrity of our industry.<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

  Yours sincerely,
  \nCPM Compliance Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Dear Valued Clients, We trust this newsletter finds you well We are writing to bring your attention to a significant development that affects all high-value dealers within our sector. Recent changes in legislation have officially designated the jewellery industry as an accountable institution under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA). This move aims to enhance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6842"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6846,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions\/6846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wildlykreativ.com\/oldcpm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}