Compliance: Australian law - latest in-force provisions

The Act was brought in to force in three stages:

December 2006 - changes to cash reporting at borders and other matters.

December 2007 - the financial sector including banks, credit unions, building societies and trustees and extends to casinos, TABs wagering service providers and bullion dealers.

December 2008 - real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and dealers in precious stones and a range of non-financial transaction provided by accountants, lawyers and trust and company service providers.

But the Act is an example of drafting gone mad. It is incomprehensible, in places contradictory and practitioners have sought the advice of AUSTRAC, which is converted from a pure FIU to a combined FIU and Regulator (in the style of FinCEN) - in part so that it can impose civil penalties for compliance failures.

AUSTRAC's role has been greatly expanded under the 2006 Act and one if the concerns was how it would handle the workload pending a substantial revision of its manpower levels. At one time, there were almost 200 jobs posted. As of today, there is just one - and that closes today so anyone interested had better hurry. Only Aussies need apply, says AUSTRAC citing security considerations.

So, as they return to work after New Year, Australian lawyers, accountants and other professionals have to come to grips with the law and the rules made under it.

But some of the rules are still not in their final form. And some of those that were in force e.g.Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules 2006 have since been replaced. In that case, on 11 December 2008.

The Draft AML/CTF Rules setting special circumstances for the applicable customer identification procedure is still in public consultation which will not end until late January 2008.

Other Rules remain outstanding.

It's not AUSTRAC's fault - well, not entirely. But it did want specific measures and it did want its role expanding. And it did want to continue with cash transaction reporting - and to expand that to all covered businesses.