Regulatory Law

The Regulatory sector provides a range of services, primarily offering legal advice and compliance support to various entities, including financial institutions, private companies, and non-profit organizations, regarding matters in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Our firm offers guidance on the regulatory framework related to clients' activities and ensures its practical and efficient implementation. The EK Regulatory sector addresses mainly the following matters:

1. Advising clients and providing legal opinions on legal matters that businesses must comply with, in accordance with the latest laws and regulations.
2. GDPR: The GDPR applies to all organizations that process personal data of individuals within the EU, regardless of the organization's location. It also applies to organizations outside the EU that offer goods or services to individuals in the EU or monitor their behavior. Our firm provide DPO and legal services to organisation explained above for being in compliance with the EU directives and standards. We can assist by presenting the obligations of the organisation to its employees and by assisting in any way for implementing all the necessary tools for the organisation to comply. As a firm, we own a great list of big organisations to whom we provide DPO services and and legal assistance on GDPR matters.
3. Anti-Money Laundering and sanctions compliance: Our firm has a well-based and well-constructed compliance department, including high-skilled professionals with broad knowledge and experience. The expertise of the compliance department is in a position to proceed with compliance checks of the clients and all the relevant parties to a case, aiming to ensure that the organisation acts in a lawful environment, avoiding in this way any risks of anti-money laundering procedures, or in any way anything that will be unlawful. Also, the compliance team organizes seminars and webinars for the employees of an organisation to be informed and aware of the updates on the law, directives (i.e. DAC 6) and regulations. In addition, our firm is recently finalised an AML project, awarded to us through the public tender procedure, where our highly skilled personnel reviews and pines in matters relating to the Associations and Foundations of the Republic of Cyprus. In this respect, we review the folders and the scope of each association and foundation in relation to anti-money laundering laws and we indicate their obligations in order to be lawfully implemented. Our compliance team can provide, among others, the following services relating to KYC and sanctions including but not limited to the following:
   1. Know Your Client (KYC): Assisting on establishing robust customer identification and verification processes within a business.
   2. Customer Due Diligence (CDD): Performing due diligence on business’s customers to assess the risk profile of their clients and detect any suspicious activities. This includes the creation of a solid compliance procedures for ongoing monitoring of customer transactions.
   3. Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR): Financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions are obligated to report any suspicious transactions or activities that may indicate money laundering or financing of terrorism. These reports are submitted to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
   4. Establishing Compliance Programs: advice and assist on establishing and maintaining a comprehensive AML compliance program within your institution.
   5. Sanctions: Advice on the measures imposed by governments or international bodies to exert pressure or influence on individuals, entities, or countries in response to specific behaviors, policies, or violations of international norms. Our firm undertakes to advise and assist financial and other institutions to be compliant with any sanctions introduced and applied in the Republic of Cyprus.
4. Whistleblowing: The Cyprus Whistleblowing law, the Protection of Persons Reporting Breaches of Union and national Law of 2022 aims to provide common minimum standards of protection for whistleblowers across the EU. A strong focus is being placed on establishing safe reporting channels and implementing measures to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers. It enacts greater protections for persons to report violations and plays a vital role in holding individuals and organizations accountable, promoting transparency, and uncovering misconduct that may otherwise remain hidden. Our firm advice and assist the organisations pursuant to the law and directive to implement all the required measures within the workplace.
5. Health & Safety: The Regulation of the Safety and Health at Work came into force in 2017 with the aim to safeguard adequate levels of safety and health of the employees at the workplaces. Our firm provides advice on the implementation of an effective system within a workplace by applying all the requirements provided by the applicable laws and regulations.
6. Formation of Associations and Foundations: Assisting on the formation of associations and foundations including the preparation of all the necessary documentation and submitting those to the relevant authorities.