Exemptions to new anti-money laundering legislation have been confirmed for solicitors who act as duty lawyers, work in community legal centres or provide preferred supplier legal aid services.
The exemption for those providing legal assistance is clarified in the amendment rules recently published by AUSTRAC.
Queensland Law Society CEO Matt Dunn said it was a commonsense move that would give certainty to members.
“It is great news for the legal assistance sector to have confirmation that these services will be exempt from the anti‑money laundering and counter‑terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime,” Mr Dunn said.
“AML CTF is one of the biggest shake-ups to the profession we have seen in recent times and will affect a large portion of our membership.
“One of the key questions we’ve been asked, whether at one of our roadshows or from calls to our ethics centre, is from lawyers seeking clarification around whether their services mean they fall under this new framework.
“Our members want to do the right thing, but as with any major change, they just want certainty so they can plan accordingly. These updated rules help give certainty.”
The regulatory relief for community legal, legal aid, and duty lawyer services are outlined in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (2025 Rules) Amendment Rules 2026 and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Class Exemptions and Other Matters) Amendment Rules 2026.
New Rule 9.1 confirms that AML/CTF obligations do not apply where these providers deliver services incidentally to the provision of a designated service covered by item 1, 3 or 4 of table 6 in the AML/CTF Act.
Some customer due diligence (CDD) provisions have also been changed in the update, including amendments to timeframes for delayed initial CDD periods for particular designated services for real estate transactions.
Other changes include extending the time to verify ‘know your customer’ information previously verified by another party to a real estate transaction, provided those entities are parties to a specific arrangement pursuant to the rules.
Changes have also been made to CDD requirements where the customer is a trust and to beneficial ownership requirements for certain kinds of customers, including when the customer is a government body or is a customer controlled by government body or a certain listed public company.
AUSTRAC has also updated Rule 2.1 of the AML/CTF Amendment Rules relating to reporting groups, introducing an ‘opt-out’ reporting group model where a reporting group will form by default unless a reporting entity formally declines membership in writing.
The Rules also include updates and corrections to information required in enrolment and registration applications to accommodate all possible business models and structures.
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