TITLE 31 - MONEY AND FINANCE
SUBTITLE IV - MONEY
CHAPTER 53 - MONETARY TRANSACTIONS
SUBCHAPTER II - RECORDS AND REPORTS ON MONETARY INSTRUMENTS
TRANSACTIONS
HEAD
Sec. 5313. Reports on domestic coins and currency transactions
STATUTE
(a) When a domestic financial institution is involved in a
transaction for the payment, receipt, or transfer of United States
coins or currency (or other monetary instruments the Secretary of
the Treasury prescribes), in an amount, denomination, or amount and
denomination, or under circumstances the Secretary prescribes by
regulation, the institution and any other participant in the
transaction the Secretary may prescribe shall file a report on the
transaction at the time and in the way the Secretary prescribes. A
participant acting for another person shall make the report as the
agent or bailee of the person and identify the person for whom the
transaction is being made.
(b) The Secretary may designate a domestic financial institution
as an agent of the United States Government to receive a report
under this section. However, the Secretary may designate a domestic
financial institution that is not insured, chartered, examined, or
registered as a domestic financial institution only if the
institution consents. The Secretary may suspend or revoke a
designation for a violation of this subchapter or a regulation
under this subchapter (except a violation of section 5315 of this
title or a regulation prescribed under section 5315), section 411
(!1) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1730d), or section 21
of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1829b).
(c)(1) A person (except a domestic financial institution
designated under subsection (b) of this section) required to file a
report under this section shall file the report -
(A) with the institution involved in the transaction if the
institution was designated;
(B) in the way the Secretary prescribes when the institution
was not designated; or
(C) with the Secretary.
(2) The Secretary shall prescribe -
(A) the filing procedure for a domestic financial institution
designated under subsection (b) of this section; and
(B) the way the institution shall submit reports filed with it.
(d) Mandatory Exemptions From Reporting Requirements. -
(1) In general. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall exempt,
pursuant to section 5318(a)(6), a depository institution from the
reporting requirements of subsection (a) with respect to
transactions between the depository institution and the following
categories of entities:
(A) Another depository institution.
(B) A department or agency of the United States, any State,
or any political subdivision of any State.
(C) Any entity established under the laws of the United
States, any State, or any political subdivision of any State,
or under an interstate compact between 2 or more States, which
exercises governmental authority on behalf of the United States
or any such State or political subdivision.
(D) Any business or category of business the reports on which
have little or no value for law enforcement purposes.
(2) Notice of exemption. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
publish in the Federal Register at such times as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate (but not less frequently than once
each year) a list of all the entities whose transactions with a
depository institution are exempt under this subsection from the
reporting requirements of subsection (a).
(e) Discretionary Exemptions From Reporting Requirements. -
(1) In general. - The Secretary of the Treasury may exempt,
pursuant to section 5318(a)(6), a depository institution from the
reporting requirements of subsection (a) with respect to
transactions between the depository institution and a qualified
business customer of the institution on the basis of information
submitted to the Secretary by the institution in accordance with
procedures which the Secretary shall establish.
(2) Qualified business customer defined. - For purposes of this
subsection, the term "qualified business customer" means a
business which -
(A) maintains a transaction account (as defined in section
19(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Reserve Act) at the depository
institution;
(B) frequently engages in transactions with the depository
institution which are subject to the reporting requirements of
subsection (a); and
(C) meets criteria which the Secretary determines are
sufficient to ensure that the purposes of this subchapter are
carried out without requiring a report with respect to such
transactions.
(3) Criteria for exemption. - The Secretary of the Treasury
shall establish, by regulation, the criteria for granting and
maintaining an exemption under paragraph (1).
(4) Guidelines. -
(A) In general. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
establish guidelines for depository institutions to follow in
selecting customers for an exemption under this subsection.
(B) Contents. - The guidelines may include a description of
the types of businesses or an itemization of specific
businesses for which no exemption will be granted under this
subsection to any depository institution.
(5) Annual review. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
prescribe regulations requiring each depository institution to -
(A) review, at least once each year, the qualified business
customers of such institution with respect to whom an exemption
has been granted under this subsection; and
(B) upon the completion of such review, resubmit information
about such customers, with such modifications as the
institution determines to be appropriate, to the Secretary for
the Secretary's approval.
(6) 2-year phase-in provision. - During the 2-year period
beginning on the date of enactment of the Money Laundering
Suppression Act of 1994, this subsection shall be applied by the
Secretary on the basis of such criteria as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate to achieve an orderly implementation
of the requirements of this subsection.
(f) Provisions Applicable to Mandatory and Discretionary
Exemptions. -
(1) Limitation on liability of depository institutions. - No
depository institution shall be subject to any penalty which may
be imposed under this subchapter for the failure of the
institution to file a report with respect to a transaction with a
customer for whom an exemption has been granted under subsection
(d) or (e) unless the institution -
(A) knowingly files false or incomplete information to the
Secretary with respect to the transaction or the customer
engaging in the transaction; or
(B) has reason to believe at the time the exemption is
granted or the transaction is entered into that the customer or
the transaction does not meet the criteria established for
granting such exemption.
(2) Coordination with other provisions. - Any exemption granted
by the Secretary of the Treasury under section 5318(a) in
accordance with this section, and any transaction which is
subject to such exemption, shall be subject to any other
provision of law applicable to such exemption, including -
(A) the authority of the Secretary, under section 5318(a)(6),
to revoke such exemption at any time; and
(B) any requirement to report, or any authority to require a
report on, any possible violation of any law or regulation or
any suspected criminal activity.
(g) Depository Institution Defined. - For purposes of this
section, the term "depository institution" -
(1) has the meaning given to such term in section 19(b)(1)(A)
of the Federal Reserve Act; and
(2) includes -
(A) any branch, agency, or commercial lending company (as
such terms are defined in section 1(b) of the International
Banking Act of 1978);
(B) any corporation chartered under section 25A of the
Federal Reserve Act; and
(C) any corporation having an agreement or undertaking with
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under
section 25 of the Federal Reserve Act.
SOURCE
(Pub. L. 97-258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 996; Pub. L. 103-325,
title IV, Sec. 402(a), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2243.)
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES --------------------------------------------------------------------
Revised Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at Large)
Section
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5313(a) 31:1081. Oct. 26, 1970, Pub. L. 91-508,
Secs. 221-223, 84 Stat. 1122.
31:1082.
5313(b) 31:1083(a).
5313(c) 31:1083(b).
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In subsection (a), the words "coins or" are added, and the words
"prescribe" and "prescribes" are substituted for "specify" in
31:1081, and "require", for consistency. The words "other parties
thereto or" in 31:1082 are omitted as surplus. The words "to the
Secretary" in 31:1081 are omitted as unnecessary and for clarity.
The words "in such detail" are omitted as surplus. The words "A
participant acting for another person shall make the report as the
agent or bailee of the person and identify the person for whom the
transaction is being made" are substituted for 31:1082(last
sentence) for clarity and to eliminate unnecessary words.
In subsection (b), the words "in his discretion" and
"individually or by class" are omitted as surplus. The word
"Government" is added for consistency. The words "or a regulation
under this subchapter", are added because of the restatement. The
words "(except a violation of section 5315 of this title or a
regulation prescribed under section 5315)" are added because
31:1141-1143 was not enacted as a part of the Currency and Foreign
Transactions Reporting Act that is restated in this subchapter.
In subsection (c)(1), clause (A) is substituted for "with respect
to a domestic financial institution . . . with that institution"
for clarity. Clause (C) is substituted for "any such person may, at
his election and in lieu of filing the report in the manner
hereinabove prescribed, file the report with the Secretary" to
eliminate unnecessary words.
REFERENCES IN TEXT
Section 411 of the National Housing Act, referred to in subsec.
(b), which was classified to section 1730d of Title 12, Banks and
Banking, was repealed by Pub. L. 101-73, title IV, Sec. 407, Aug.
9, 1989, 103 Stat. 363.
Section 19(b)(1)(A) and (C) of the Federal Reserve Act, referred
to in subsecs. (e)(2)(A) and (g)(1), is classified to section
461(b)(1)(A) and (C) of Title 12.
The date of enactment of the Money Laundering Suppression Act of
1994, referred to in subsec. (e)(6), is the date of enactment of
title IV of Pub. L. 103-325, which was approved Sept. 23, 1994.
Section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978, referred
to in subsec. (g)(2)(A), is classified to section 3101 of Title 12.
Sections 25 and 25A of the Federal Reserve Act, referred to in
subsec. (g)(2)(B), (C), are classified to subchapters I (Secs. 601
et seq.) and II (Secs. 611 et seq.), respectively, of chapter 6 of
Title 12.
AMENDMENTS
1994 - Subsecs. (d) to (g). Pub. L. 103-325 added subsecs. (d) to
(g).
EFFICIENT USE OF CURRENCY TRANSACTION REPORT SYSTEM
Pub. L. 107-56, title III, Sec. 366, Oct. 26, 2001, 115 Stat.
335, provided that:
"(a) Findings. - The Congress finds the following:
"(1) The Congress established the currency transaction
reporting requirements in 1970 because the Congress found then
that such reports have a high degree of usefulness in criminal,
tax, and regulatory investigations and proceedings and the
usefulness of such reports has only increased in the years since
the requirements were established.
"(2) In 1994, in response to reports and testimony that excess
amounts of currency transaction reports were interfering with
effective law enforcement, the Congress reformed the currency
transaction report exemption requirements to provide -
"(A) mandatory exemptions for certain reports that had little
usefulness for law enforcement, such as cash transfers between
depository institutions and cash deposits from government
agencies; and
"(B) discretionary authority for the Secretary of the
Treasury to provide exemptions, subject to criteria and
guidelines established by the Secretary, for financial
institutions with regard to regular business customers that
maintain accounts at an institution into which frequent cash
deposits are made.
"(3) Today there is evidence that some financial institutions
are not utilizing the exemption system, or are filing reports
even if there is an exemption in effect, with the result that the
volume of currency transaction reports is once again interfering
with effective law enforcement.
"(b) Study and Report. -
"(1) Study required. - The Secretary shall conduct a study of -
"(A) the possible expansion of the statutory exemption system
in effect under section 5313 of title 31, United States Code;
and
"(B) methods for improving financial institution utilization
of the statutory exemption provisions as a way of reducing the
submission of currency transaction reports that have little or
no value for law enforcement purposes, including improvements
in the systems in effect at financial institutions for regular
review of the exemption procedures used at the institution and
the training of personnel in its effective use.
"(2) Report required. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
submit a report to the Congress before the end of the 1-year
period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 26,
2001] containing the findings and conclusions of the Secretary
with regard to the study required under subsection (a), and such
recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the
Secretary determines to be appropriate."
REPORT REDUCTION GOAL; STREAMLINED CURRENCY TRANSACTION REPORTS
Section 402(b), (c) of Pub. L. 103-325 provided that:
"(b) Report Reduction Goal; Reports. -
"(1) In general. - In implementing the amendment made by
subsection (a) [amending this section], the Secretary of the
Treasury shall seek to reduce, within a reasonable period of
time, the number of reports required to be filed in the aggregate
by depository institutions pursuant to section 5313(a) of title
31, United States Code, by at least 30 percent of the number
filed during the year preceding the date of enactment of this Act
[Sept. 23, 1994].
"(2) Interim report. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
submit a report to the Congress not later than the end of the 180-
day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act on the
progress made by the Secretary in implementing the amendment made
by subsection (a).
"(3) Annual report. - The Secretary of the Treasury shall
submit an annual report to the Congress after the end of each of
the first 5 calendar years which begin after the date of
enactment of this Act on the extent to which the Secretary has
reduced the overall number of currency transaction reports filed
with the Secretary pursuant to section 5313(a) of title 31,
United States Code, consistent with the purposes of such section
and effective law enforcement.
"(c) Streamlined Currency Transaction Reports. - The Secretary of
the Treasury shall take such action as may be appropriate to -
"(1) redesign the format of reports required to be filed under
section 5313(a) of title 31, United States Code, by any financial
institution (as defined in section 5312(a)(2) of such title) to
eliminate the need to report information which has little or no
value for law enforcement purposes; and
"(2) reduce the time and effort required to prepare such report
for filing by any such financial institution under such section."
FOOTNOTE
(!1) See References in Text note below.
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