The special section of the Registry of Moneychangers held by the OAM, to which providers of services related to the use of virtual currency and digital wallet services operating in Italy must register, will be operational by 18 May. OAM specifies this in the light of the publication in the Official Gazette of the relevant ministerial decree. All subjects who are already operating, also on-line, at the date of the opening of the Register, and in possession of the legal requirements (art.17-bis, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 141/2010), will have 60 days from that date to communicate their operations in Italy and continue to exercise their activity without having to wait for the OAM ruling on the enrolment in the Register. In the event of failure to meet the above deadline, or refusal to register by the Body, any pursuit of business activity will be considered abusive.
On the other hand, subjects not yet operating at the date of opening of the Registry will have to communicate their intention to operate in Italy, complying with the regulatory requirements mentioned above, and wait for the pronouncement of the Body in order to be able to operate legally in Italy.
The Body will have 15 days to verify the regularity and completeness of the communication and the attached documentation and to approve or deny registration. The 15-day period may be suspended once, for a maximum of 10 days if OAM considers that the communication is incomplete or needs to be supplemented.
OAM will have to ensure the clarity, completeness and public accessibility of the data reported in the Special Section of the Registry of Moneychangers in which it will be noted among other things the last and first name of the provider of services related to the use of virtual currency or the provider of digital wallet services who is a natural person, or the company name and the registered office or the headquarters of the permanent establishment in the territory of the Republic in the case of a subject other than a natural person; the indication of the type of service provided, the address of the physical points of operation, including any automatic teller machines (ATM), and/or the web address through which the service is carried out.
The OAM will provide, upon request, any information and documentation held in light of the management of the Special Section of the Register to all institutional subjects involved in the fight against money laundering and to the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate. Among the data that may be requested are those relating to operations carried out by registered subjects in the territory of the Italian Republic: identification data of the client, summary data relating to the overall operations of each service provider relating to the use of virtual currencies and electronic wallet service provider for each individual client.
Rome, 18 February 2022