On 24 March 2026, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) held its first public hearing to further develop the EU Anti-Money Laundering Single Rulebook into a robust, risk-based, and practical framework for all entities in the EU. The hearing provided stakeholders with an opportunity to speak directly with AMLA staff drawing up the draft standards, to ask questions, share experiences, and highlight areas requiring further clarification.

The first hearing brought together over 1,600 stakeholders, including obliged entities from the financial and non-financial sectors, as well as civil society organisations. The hearing was structured around two sessions, each dedicated to a draft standard that forms a cornerstone of the Single Rulebook.

The first session focused on the criteria for identifying business relationships, occasional transactions, and linked transactions. It explained how these distinctions determine when obliged entities must carry out customer checks, and how attempts to circumvent these checks by splitting transactions can be prevented.

The second session addressed customer due diligence, outlining the information and documentation that obliged entities should collect for standard, simplified, and enhanced due diligence procedures.

The slides on customer due diligence and business relationships presented during both sessions are available to download.

The public hearing is part of a wider consultation process. Written submissions on both Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) were open until 8 May 2026. Input received during the public hearing will complement the written submissions and play a vital role in shaping the final standards.

Obligations for private entities to prevent the use of the financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing are now prescribed in the directly applicable Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, "the AML Single Rulebook" (→eucrim 2/2024, 117-118). It replaces the system to date that has regulated said obligations in five AML/CFT Directives.