International standards
FATF means Financial Action Task Force. It is an intergovernmental body. Its 40 Recommendations set international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
Countries use these standards when they make their own legal and regulatory measures. National systems differ, so the measures are not identical everywhere.
The documents work together
The FATF Standards include the Recommendations, their Interpretive Notes and applicable Glossary definitions. The notes and definitions give conditions needed to understand the standards.
Separate FATF guidance helps countries use the standards. The guidance has a different role from the standards themselves.
The Australian legal question
An Australian business needs the Australian Act, Rules and relevant guidance to identify its duties. A reference to FATF does not replace that work.
For example, a fictional practice sees a customer due diligence requirement in an international document. It then identifies the Australian provisions for its service and customer.
Sources: AUSTRAC: The difference between the Act, Rules and guidance; Federal Register of Legislation: Part 2.
- FATF Standards
Read the Recommendations, Interpretive Notes and applicable Glossary definitions together.
- Australian duties
Use the Australian Act, Rules and relevant guidance to identify the business’s duties.
International standards and Australian duties
The international standards and the domestic legal question have different roles. FATF references do not replace an Australian duty assessment.
Separate evidence questions. An answer to one does not settle the others.
A standard is not a business assessment
This article gives the meaning of the standards. It does not give a country rating or a conclusion about a business.
The service-scope article helps a reader identify the Australian legal question. The country-risk article deals with foreign connections in customer risk.
Source: FATF: Introduction.