The Consiglio Nazionale Forense (i.e. the National Council of the Bar) introduced new charges for lawyers following the introduction of anti-money laundering provisions (Legislative Decree. N. 231/2007) that apply to lawyers when they commit, in the name of or on behalf of the client, financial or real estate transactions, or assist their client in transactions involving the transfer of real rights on properties or economic activities, the management of cash or financial instruments, the opening or management of bank, savings or securities accounts; organization of contributions necessary for the setting up and management of companies, or the constitution, management or administration of the companies and corporations.

The obligations laid down by the Council are:

- Identify the client and the "beneficial owner" (or the entity on whose behalf the lawyer eventually acts) through a valid identity document, when the service provided concerns means of payment, goods or utilities of a value above 15.000€;

- Record and store client information through a proper dedicated archive, with information and data to be stored for ten years after the conclusion of the professional service;

- The lawyer should report to the Unità di Informazione Finanziaria (Financial Intelligence Unit at the Bank of Italy), whenever he acknowledges a fact or suspects there are ongoing operations of money laundering or terrorist financing;

- Train and prepare staff and employees;

- Report to the Ministry of Economy the cash transfers made in any capacity between different subjects for amounts equal to or higher than 3,000.00 Euros.

In case the lawyer fails to fulfil the prescribed obligations, administrative sanctions apply: for example, the lack of identification of the client or failure to register implies an administrative penalty from 5,000 to 30,000,000 Euros, and if the identification of a client is made difficult, the penalty can be up to 50 million euro. Similar figures apply even in case a proper registry is not prepared or in case the obligation to inform the Financial Intelligence Unit is infringed (in both cases, the prescribed sanction ranges from 5,000 to 50,000,000 euros).

The lawyer will commit an actual crime (punishable by imprisonment from six months to one year or by a fine of from 5,000 to 50,000,000 euros) in case of breach of the prohibition to communicate to the client or third parties the report made.