CFE Tax Advisers Europe has submitted an Opinion Statement in response to the AMLA consultation on draft Guidelines concerning Business-Wide Risk Assessments under Article 10(4) of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation.
CFE PAC Statement 6/2026 on the AMLA Consultation on draft Guidelines on Business-Wide Risk Assessment
CFE Tax Advisers Europe has submitted an Opinion Statement in response to the consultation carried out by the EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) on draft Guidelines concerning Business-Wide Risk Assessments (BWRA) under Article 10(4) of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR). The Guidelines form part of the implementation of the EU AML Single Rulebook and will establish the framework through which obliged entities identify, assess and manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks across their business.
In its submission, CFE welcomes AMLA's objective of creating a harmonised and risk-based framework while emphasising that the final Guidelines must remain proportionate, practical and sufficiently flexible to reflect the operational realities of non-financial obliged entities, including tax advisers.
A Proportionate Framework for Professional Services
A central message of CFE's submission is that tax advisers are not banks and that methodologies developed for financial institutions should not automatically be applied to professional advisory firms.
While supporting the proposed four-step Business-Wide Risk Assessment methodology, CFE stresses that proportionality should be embedded throughout the Guidelines rather than treated as a general principle. Many tax advisory firms, particularly SMEs, do not operate transactional systems or dedicated compliance infrastructures comparable to financial institutions and should therefore be able to rely on qualitative, narrative-based risk assessments where appropriate.
Preserving Professional Judgement
CFE welcomes AMLA's recognition that there is no single methodology suitable for every obliged entity and supports the flexibility provided in the draft Guidelines. The Statement calls for the final Guidelines to explicitly recognise that professional judgement forms an integral part of Business-Wide Risk Assessments, particularly in the tax advisory profession, where risk assessments are based on long-term client relationships, contextual analysis and knowledge of clients' business activities rather than transactional monitoring.
The submission also recommends that smaller practices should not be expected to replicate complex numerical scoring models designed for financial institutions and that documentation requirements should remain proportionate to the size and complexity of the practice.
Recognising the Professional Infrastructure
CFE further highlights in the Statement that tax advisers already operate within a well-established professional framework comprising ethical obligations, continuing professional development, disciplinary systems and professional supervision. Several CFE member organisations also act as designated AML supervisors under national law.
The Statement recommends that this existing professional infrastructure should be expressly recognised as an important component of firms' overall AML/CFT control environment when carrying out Business-Wide Risk Assessments.
Practical Implementation and Legal Certainty
While broadly supporting the proposed minimum requirements, CFE identifies several areas where additional clarification would improve implementation. These include the treatment of residual risk, the weighting of risk factors, the use of information sources, and the relationship between Business-Wide Risk Assessments, customer-level risk assessments and ongoing monitoring obligations.
The submission also calls for practical guidance and sector-specific examples to ensure that supervisory expectations remain clear and proportionate for non-financial obliged entities, particularly small and medium-sized practices.
Professional Secrecy, Data Protection & Emerging Technologies
CFE emphasises that the final Guidelines should fully respect professional secrecy, legal professional privilege and applicable Court of Justice of the European Union jurisprudence. The Statement also recommends explicit recognition that Business-Wide Risk Assessments must comply with GDPR principles, including data minimisation and purpose limitation.
In addition, CFE encourages AMLA to ensure coherence across the wider AML Single Rulebook and to recognise the increasing use of artificial intelligence and other technological tools in compliance functions, while preserving meaningful human oversight and professional judgement.
Continued CFE Engagement on the EU AML Framework
Throughout the submission, CFE calls for a proportionate, sector-sensitive and operationally workable approach to Business-Wide Risk Assessments that recognises the distinct nature of the tax advisory profession. CFE emphasises that harmonisation should not come at the expense of flexibility and that the final Guidelines should support effective risk management without imposing banking-style compliance models on non-financial professions.
CFE remains committed to supporting the development of an effective and harmonised EU AML framework and looks forward to continued engagement with AMLA, the European Commission and other stakeholders throughout the implementation of the EU AML Single Rulebook.
Fonte: CFE Tax Advisers Europe. Pubblicazione originale del 2026-07-17.