ETAF responds to AMLA's consultation on the draft RTS on risk assessment

On 25 September 2026, ETAF responded to AMLA’s consultation on its draft RTS on the assessment of the inherent and residual risk profile of obliged entities in the non-financial sector under Article 40(2) of Directive (EU) 2024/1640.

ETAF supports the objectives of the AML/CFT rules. However, to be effective, supervision must reflect the diversity of the non-financial sector and requires a tailored approach. Tax advisers are not banks; they advise and represent clients but typically do not execute payments or monitor accounts.

The methodology for assessing risk should therefore consider the activities actually carried out by the profession and specific associated ML/TF risks. It should also avoid collecting excessive data for low-risk activities and focus supervisory resources on higher-risk cases.

ETAF’s main demands are:

• Significantly higher thresholds for “small obliged entities” under the simplified regime, applied alternatively rather than cumulatively;
• Longer assessment and review cycles to allow supervisors time to build the IT and data systems needed to assess large numbers of tax practices;
• Fewer and more relevant data points, focused on ML/TF risk factors, with more detailed data requested only in cases where the initial assessment identified actual ML/TF risks.