Two parts of one assessment
A FATF mutual evaluation is a peer review of a country’s system against the FATF Recommendations. It examines technical compliance and effectiveness. These answer different questions.
Technical compliance concerns the laws, regulations and other measures required by the 40 Recommendations. Effectiveness concerns the results of the system, assessed through 11 Immediate Outcomes.
Source: FATF: Technical compliance, effectiveness, and methodologies for different rounds.
Read the report date and method
Read the report’s assessment dates, methodology and findings before using a rating. Different assessment rounds can use different editions of the methodology. A later follow-up report may cover only part of the original assessment.
The ratings describe the assessed national system. They do not approve each business or customer in that country.
Source: FATF: Technical compliance, effectiveness, and methodologies for different rounds.
- Technical compliance
What laws and measures exist?
- Effectiveness
What results does the system achieve?
- Report context
Which dates, method and findings apply?
What does a FATF mutual evaluation assess
These are related assessment questions. A law’s existence alone does not establish its results.
Separate evidence questions. An answer to one does not settle the others.
Example: a law and its results
In a fictional training exercise, a country has a law that requires suspicious transaction reports. The reviewer separately asks how authorities use those reports. The existence of the law does not answer the question about results.
This example explains the two assessment subjects. It does not assign a FATF rating or reproduce the full assessment criteria.
Use the findings for their stated purpose
For a country risk review, record the relevant finding, its date and why it affects the service or customer. Keep that assessment separate from a general view about the country. Read the country risk article for Australian customer duties.