Right on time for the ART Basel, the world famous international art fair that takes place in Basel every year in June, the Basel Institute launched a public consultation on a Green Paper that sets out Anti-Money Laundering Principles for the Art Trade.

The idea behind this initiative is to seek to assist art traders in understanding how to mitigate the risks of money laundering in their business. In particular, such principles set out practical guidelines that provide a consistent method to manage risks in the art trade linked to Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), with art market operators taking responsibility for the application of a risk-based approach to their business. The closing date for the public consultation was September 30.

The Basel AML/CFT Principles are building on, and published as a sub-set of the Basel Art Trade Guidelines, a self-regulatory initiative that was published by the Basel Institute for the art industry in 2012.