The Travel Rule Regulation applies to transfers of funds and crypto-assets and requires service providers, such as payment service providers (PSPs), intermediary PSPs (IPSPs), crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), and intermediary CASPs (ICASPs), to collect and verify information about the sender and beneficiary of transfers of crypto-assets which they carry out.

The Travel Rule Guidelines build on the guidelines issued under the previous regime (Guidelines JC/GL/2017/16), by introducing certain new key provisions.

• Information requirements: The Travel Rule Guidelines specify in detail the information that must accompany transfers of funds and crypto assets and which must be collected and verified by service providers subject to obligations under the Travel Rule Regulation.
• Responsibilities of service providers: Provisions on the procedures necessary for PSPs, IPSPS, CASPs, and ICASPs should take to detect and manage transfers with missing or incomplete information and managing the associated risk of money laundering (ML) or Terrorising Financing (TF) are included.
• Direct debit transfers: Guidance on how obligations under the Travel Rule Regulation are meant to be applicable to direct debit transfers is provided under the Travel Rule Guidelines.
• Exclusions: Guidance on how certain exclusions under the Travel Rule Regulation are meant to be applied is provided under the Travel Rule Guidelines.

Competent authorities must report compliance with the Travel Rule Guidelines within two months after their official EU language translation being published. The Travel Rule Guidelines will come into effect on 30 December 2024.

The Travel Rule Guidelines are part of the EBA's broader strategy to ensure a robust and unified AML/CFT regime across the EU, enhancing the security and integrity of financial transactions involving funds and crypto assets.

EBA’s press release can be accessed here and the Travel Rule Guidelines can be found here.

Our previous blog post on this topic can be found here.