31 March 2006 
 
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants yesterday met with the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison, to discuss the impact the Government’s draft Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Bill will have on small to medium sized businesses in Australia.  
 
The meeting follows concerns raised by the Institute in a Parliamentary Submission issued to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee.  
 
The Institute fully supports the need for legislation to prevent money laundering and terrorism but raised concerns that the draft Bill, which represents the first tranche of anti-money laundering reforms, didn’t adequately factor in the commercial realities of business practices in Australia.  
 
Following yesterday’s discussion, the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison agreed to review the definitions of designated services to ensure that they do not capture activities which are broader than those which the FATF Recommendations set out as being of the type provided by financial institutions. This review should clarify that businesses extending trade credit and trust account transactions will not be reporting entities for the purpose of these services for this first tranche of AML/CTF legislation.  
 
The Institutes CEO, Graham Meyer, said he was delighted by Senator Ellison’s cooperative approach and willingness to make the legislation palatable to Australian businesses.  
 
Mr Meyer said if the Bill had remained unchanged it would have produced complex, overly burdensome regulation that would impose unnecessary compliance burdens on businesses - particularly small business.  
 
“The first tranche of draft Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Bill was aimed at financial institutions and their competitors and was not intended to target small businesses as likely culprits of ‘high risk’ transaction, yet they were inadvertently included”, Mr Meyer said.  
 
Accountants, together with lawyers, jewellers and real estate agents will be subject to the AML/CTF reforms in a second tranche of legislation. The second tranche will be considered after the implementation of the first tranche of AML/CTF reforms.  
 
The revised draft Bill is expected to be release prior to June 2006.