{"id":"F2026L00412","name":"Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Proliferation Financing) Regulations 2026","slug":"anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":443239,"registerId":"F2026L00412-fast-fetch-1775958125961","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Proliferation Financing) Regulations 2026","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nAnti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing (Proliferation Financing) Regulations 2026\n\nI, the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following regulations.\n\nDated   2 April 2026\n\nSam Mostyn AC\n\nGovernor‑General\n\nBy Her Excellency’s Command\n\nTony Burke\n\nMinister for Home Affairs\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\nPart 2—Proliferation financing\n\n5 Meaning of proliferation financing—offences against the Charter of United Nations Act 1945\n\n6 Meaning of proliferation financing—offences against the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011\n\n7 Meaning of proliferation financing—prescribed laws of the Commonwealth\n\n8 Meaning of proliferation financing—prescribed Commonwealth, State and Territory offences\n\n \n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing (Proliferation Financing) Regulations 2026.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument Immediately after the commencement of Schedule 1 to the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024. 31 March 2026\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: Expressions used in this instrument have the same meaning as in the Act (see paragraph 13(1)(b) of the Legislation Act 2003).\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006.\n\nPart 2—Proliferation financing\n\n \n\n5  Meaning of proliferation financing—offences against the Charter of United Nations Act 1945\n\nOffences involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea\n\n (1) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, an offence against section 27 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 is prescribed to the extent that the conduct constituting the offence is a contravention of a provision of the Charter of the United Nations (Sanctions—Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulations 2008 that is a UN sanction enforcement law (within the meaning of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945).\n\nNote: For the provisions of the above regulations that constitute a UN sanction enforcement law within the meaning of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945, see table item 4 of Schedule 1 to the Charter of the United Nations (UN Sanction Enforcement Law) Declaration 2008.\n\nOffences involving Iran\n\n (2) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, an offence against section 27 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 is prescribed to the extent that the conduct constituting the offence is a contravention of a provision of the Charter of the United Nations (Sanctions—Iran) Regulations 2025 that is a UN sanction enforcement law (within the meaning of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945).\n\nNote: For the provisions of the above regulations that constitute a UN sanction enforcement law within the meaning of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945, see table item 7 of Schedule 1 to the Charter of the United Nations (UN Sanction Enforcement Law) Declaration 2008.\n\n6  Meaning of proliferation financing—offences against the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011\n\n (1) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, an offence against section 16 of the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 is prescribed to the extent that the conduct constituting the offence is a contravention:\n\n (a) of one or more of the sanction laws (within the meaning of that Act) covered by subsection (2) or (3) of this section; or\n\n (b) of a condition of an authorisation under such a sanction law.\n\nOffences involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea\n\n (2) This subsection covers the following sanction laws:\n\n (a) regulation 13 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves providing a sanctioned service of a kind mentioned in any one or more of the following provisions of those regulations:\n\n (i) subregulation 5(8);\n\n (ii) subregulation 5(9);\n\n (iii) subregulation 5(10);\n\n (iv) subregulation 5(11);\n\n (b) regulation 13A of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves engaging in a sanctioned commercial activity within the meaning of that term in regulation 5CA of those regulations;\n\n (c) regulation 14 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves assets made available to, or for the benefit of, a designated person or entity for a country mentioned in item 1 of the table in regulation 6 of those regulations;\n\n (d) regulation 15 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the controlled asset is owned or controlled by a designated person or entity for a country mentioned in item 1 of the table in regulation 6 of those regulations.\n\nOffences involving Iran\n\n (3) This subsection covers the following sanction laws:\n\n (a) regulation 12 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves making a sanctioned supply within the meaning of subregulation 4(1) of those regulations involving export sanctioned goods described in item 2 of the table in subregulation 4(2) of those regulations;\n\n (b) regulation 13 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves providing a sanctioned service within the meaning of subregulation 5(4) of those regulations, of a kind mentioned in item 2 of the table in that subregulation;\n\n (c) regulation 14 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the contravention involves assets made available to, or for the benefit of, a designated person or entity for a country mentioned in item 4 of the table in regulation 6 of those regulations;\n\n (d) regulation 15 of the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011, if the controlled asset is owned or controlled by a designated person or entity for a country mentioned in item 4 of the table in regulation 6 of those regulations.\n\n7  Meaning of proliferation financing—prescribed laws of the Commonwealth\n\n  For the purposes of subparagraph (d)(ii) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, the following laws of the Commonwealth are prescribed:\n\n (a) the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994;\n\n (b) the Comprehensive Nuclear‑Test‑Ban Treaty Act 1998;\n\n (c) the Crimes (Biological Weapons) Act 1976;\n\n (d) the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987;\n\n (e) the Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act 1995.\n\n8  Meaning of proliferation financing—prescribed Commonwealth, State and Territory offences\n\n (1) For the purposes of paragraph (g) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, offences in Part XIII of the Customs Act 1901 that involve export of prohibited exports are prescribed, if the export is prohibited under one or more of the following provisions of the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958:\n\n (a) Division 2A of Part 3 of those regulations (exportation of goods in relation to autonomous sanctions);\n\n (b) regulation 13CO (exportation of goods to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea);\n\n (c) regulation 13CQ (exportation of certain goods to Iran);\n\n (d) provisions in Division 4A of Part 3 of those regulations to the extent that the contraventions relate to the exportation of items listed in Part 2 of the Defence and Strategic Goods List 2024 (as incorporated for the purposes of identifying prohibited exports by paragraph 112(2A)(aa) of the Customs Act 1901).\n\n (2) For the purposes of paragraph (g) of the definition of proliferation financing in section 5 of the Act, offences in Part XIII of the Customs Act 1901 that involve import of prohibited imports are prescribed, if the import is prohibited under one or more of the following provisions of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956:\n\n (a) regulation 4Y;\n\n (b) regulation 4Z.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation appears tightly scoped to its original purpose of defining proliferation financing for the AML/CTF Act. It does not expand beyond prescribing specific offences and laws to complete the definitional framework established by the parent Act."},"complexity_factors":["Heavy cross-referencing to at least 8 other Acts and numerous regulations (Charter of the United Nations Act 1945, Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011, Customs Act 1901, plus multiple sets of regulations)","Nested conditional logic: offences are only prescribed if they involve specific contraventions of specific provisions (e.g., regulation 13 of Autonomous Sanctions Regulations only if involving specific subregulations 5(8)-(11))","Multiple layers of definitions: must understand 'UN sanction enforcement law', 'sanctioned service', 'sanctioned commercial activity', 'designated person or entity', 'controlled asset' from external instruments","Reliance on table items and schedules in other legislative instruments (e.g., 'table item 4 of Schedule 1', 'item 1 of the table in regulation 6')","Geographic and subject-matter specificity: distinguishes between conduct involving North Korea versus Iran with different triggering conditions for each","Incorporation by reference of the Defence and Strategic Goods List 2024, an external document that changes periodically"],"plain_english_summary":"This regulation expands Australia’s anti‑money‑laundering definition of “proliferation financing” to explicitly cover offences linked to UN and Australian sanctions (notably relating to North Korea and Iran) and to weapons‑of‑mass‑destruction and related customs breaches. It affects banks, financial services, traders and exporters/importers of sensitive goods by clarifying what transactions must be screened and reported. The change tightens Australia’s defenses against WMD proliferation and aligns reporting obligations with international FATF standards."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument does not amend the Act’s substantive definition; it operationalises the Act by prescribing which existing offences and contraventions fall within the Act’s definition of proliferation financing (UN sanctions enforcement offences, specified Autonomous Sanctions contraventions, listed Commonwealth WMD laws, and certain customs export/import offences). It narrows scope only by specified cross‑references rather than expanding the statutory definition."},"complexity_factors":["Heavy cross‑referencing to multiple external instruments (UN sanctions regulations, Autonomous Sanctions Regulations, Customs Regulations, Defence and Strategic Goods List).","Layered conditional prescriptions (different provisions apply for DPRK versus Iran; specific subregulations and table items are required).","Interaction with both criminal offences and export/import controls across Commonwealth, State and Territory law.","Operational dependence on lists and definitions maintained in other instruments (e.g. designated persons, sanctioned goods lists).","Compliance implications for a broad set of reporting entities with differing business models and international transactions.","Commencement tied to another Act’s schedule, adding an implementation timing dependency."],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations spell out which crimes and contraventions count as “proliferation financing” under the Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006 by prescribing specific UN sanctions offences, Autonomous Sanctions contraventions for the DPRK and Iran, certain Commonwealth WMD‑related laws, and particular customs import/export offences. They affect entities subject to AML/CTF duties (banks, remitters and other reporting entities) by creating additional reportable triggers and compliance obligations; regulated businesses pay compliance costs, and regulators decide enforcement and authorisations."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026","history":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-proliferation-financing-regulations-2026/documents"}}