11 May 2018
Registration and the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act
You may recently have received an email from the Department of Internal Affairs telling you that you need to register with your anti-money laundering supervisor. The Bar Association is applying to the Minister of Justice under s 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (the Act) for an exemption from the requirements of the Act in circumstances in which a barrister acts on direct instructions from an instructing solicitor or from the Crown. However, until the outcome of that application is known, you will need to act in accordance with the Act's requirements.
If you received the email from the Department of Internal Affairs, you will need to consider whether activities that you undertake in the ordinary course of your business are covered by the Act. In its March 2018 edition of At the Bar, the New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture published an article which described the limited extent to which the Act might apply to activities carried out by a barrister.
Please click here for a copy of that article.
If you feel that activities you undertake in the ordinary course of your work might be caught by the Act, then you will need to respond accordingly to the DIA’s email. Otherwise, it is not necessary for you to do so.
However, it is important for all barristers to complete the form, to provide DIA with assurance that they have considered whether or not they are captured. If you consider you are not captured, please complete the form (ticking ‘None of the above’) and return it to DIA. Practices that are not captured will receive no further communications from DIA.
Questions?
If you received the email from the Department of Internal Affairs, you will need to consider whether activities that you undertake in the ordinary course of your business are covered by the Act. In its March 2018 edition of At the Bar, the New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture published an article which described the limited extent to which the Act might apply to activities carried out by a barrister.
Please click here for a copy of that article.
If you feel that activities you undertake in the ordinary course of your work might be caught by the Act, then you will need to respond accordingly to the DIA’s email. Otherwise, it is not necessary for you to do so.
However, it is important for all barristers to complete the form, to provide DIA with assurance that they have considered whether or not they are captured. If you consider you are not captured, please complete the form (ticking ‘None of the above’) and return it to DIA. Practices that are not captured will receive no further communications from DIA.
Questions?
If you have any comments or questions, please email them in the first instance to the secretariat, for forwarding to the NZBA AML/CFT working party.
