Administrative Rulings

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Administrative letter rulings drafted by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are issued pursuant to our authority as the administrator of the Bank Secrecy Act, if the facts and circumstances, issues, and analyses that appear in an administrative letter ruling are of general interest to financial institutions then the letter ruling is published on our website. Published letter rulings often express an opinion about a new issue; apply an established theory or analysis to a set of facts that differs materially from facts or circumstances that have been previously considered; or provide a new interpretation of Title 31 of the United States Code, or any other statute granting FinCEN authority. A summary of the variety of regulatory releases, which also includes an outline of the effect of the various releases on financial institutions that are subject to the regulatory provision at issue, is available here [HTML | PDF]

Precious Metals/Jewelry Industry

The transfer and reorganization of the BSA regulations from 31 CFR Part 103 to 31 CFR Chapter X has not altered the legal effect of any regulatory obligation nor has it imposed any new regulatory obligations on financial institutions. This includes the legal effect of FinCEN's interim final rule for dealers of precious metals, stones, or jewels, as further clarified by FinCEN Ruling 2006-001.