Congress did not receive objections against the Anti-Money Laundering Law and has a free way to forward it to the Executive Branch, but lawyers have doubts about their new responsibilities in the law that combats money laundering.
The union’s position was expressed in a statement from the College of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala (Cang), published last June 9 at around 8 p.m.
In his position, Cang indicated that some technical and legal observations that were sent to the Congressional Economic Commission were not taken into account, and doubts persist about possible sanctioning regimes that may specifically affect notaries.
With the approval of the Comprehensive Law against Money Laundering or Other Assets and the Financing of Terrorism, notaries remain as “obligated persons” to notify of certain situations.
These situations fit within the authorization of public instruments linked to real estate, the constitution and administration of legal entities, the management of funds, and the purchase and sale of corporate interests.
“The Cang considers it necessary that the implementation of this legislation takes into consideration the real conditions in which professional practice takes place in Guatemala, as well as the specific nature of the notarial function, avoiding transferring responsibilities that exceed the scope of action legally attributed to legal professionals,” the statement says.
Obligated subjects
In the new law, notaries are included as obligated persons, being detailed in three categories: Supervised by the Superintendency of Banks (SIB), unsupervised financial, and commercial and services.
This last category includes university professionals and notaries who authorize specific master deeds. The law establishes an ecosystem that will operate with greater traceability requirements, which will temporarily increase the need to maintain an internal document order.
Obligated persons acquire new responsibilities, including registration with the SIB-IVE; That is, they must formally register as obliged persons and apply due diligence procedures to their clients.
The rule contemplates sanctions of US$500 to US$300 thousand for non-compliance. In case of recidivism, a mandatory action plan will be imposed for six months.
In addition, a penalty equivalent to double the fine or 20% of the amount involved may be applied when there is non-compliance. The fines will be used to train the Special Verification Intendance (IVE) and the SIB budget, with a 50% distribution for each entity.
Who is included?
Included are lawyers, notaries, economists and public accountants and auditors who:
- Provide services without an employment relationship with the client.
- Participate in the purchase and sale of real estate, asset management, account management or creation and administration of legal entities.
- Act as notaries when authorizing master deeds linked to these activities.
Special regime
Four proportional obligations are established:
A) Registration with the SIB-IVE.
B) Minimum registration per client with identification data.
C) Monthly notification to the IVE, within the following 15 business days, when there is inconsistency or an unusual transaction.
D) Preservation of records for five years.
Non-restraint and professional secrecy
Legal professionals are not required to report suspicious transactions when the information has been obtained to verify the client’s legal situation, before or during the exercise of the right of defense or professional assistance in judicial, administrative matters, arbitrations or mediation processes.
They wait for regulations
Now that the law has been approved by Congress, the SIB must prepare the regulations, in which they hope to be included to resolve the lawyers’ doubts, according to what was said by Francisco Javier Puac, vice president of the Cang Board of Directors.
“In Guatemala there is no law on the protection of personal data, so there is also the concern of how that data is going to be managed because at the end of the day the law says that this information cannot be used with evidentiary value in court, so only the data will remain, it is not known who is left with it and who is going to protect it,” he explained.
🚨 Communiqué pic.twitter.com/NRpEHxUl9W
— College of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala (@CangGuatemala) June 10, 2026
Puac reaffirmed that Cang supports the law and assures that the statement is not a rejection of the norm, and rules out any legal action that seeks to stop the law against money laundering.
“We have put ourselves at the service. Rather than thinking that we are going to incur unconstitutionalities, we make ourselves available to train and provide reports to our members. We are not against the law and we have the option of participating in the technical tables to develop the regulations and answer the doubts that the members have,” he indicated.
Uphold the law
Deputy Jorge Ayala, president of the Economy Commission and member of the Valor bloc, commented that the work done by Congress responds to the concerns that the Cang now expresses.
Ayala, together with the president of Congress, led a dialogue table between the deputies that allowed agreements for the approval of a package of amendments.
“I believe that several of these issues are already explained in the law, article 41 establishes a specific procedure for the protection of professional secrecy when defense professionals obtain information, they are protected from transferring that information,” he said.
The deputy added that the training processes are also already contemplated in the law. “With the training we believe that it is important that all obligated persons have an induction process with guides, manuals, and procedures, in order to establish their scope; 52 gives powers to the IVE on this issue,” he pointed out.
Regarding the reprimands, Ayala explained that there are the ranges, but not the amounts for each infraction that an obligated person may incur, but he pointed out that these details will be established in the regulations.