Important changes to the money laundering regulations have been brought before parliament.

The government says the changes will reduce the regulatory burden imposed by the current laws, while strengthening the overall anti-money laundering regime. The changes to the regulations will come into force on 1 October.

These proposals were set out in July 2012 following consultation and are expected to save firms around £3m a year.

The proposed changes include:

• Extending the use of reliance, a mechanism by which a firm can rely on the customer due diligence carried out by a third party, to minimise the duplication of checks.
• Exempting from the scope of the 2007 regulations credit institutions that offer time to pay for non-refundable services but do not lend or advance money.
• Bringing UK estate agents selling overseas property within the scope of the regulations.
• Amending the fit and proper persons test applied by HMRC to decide whether a person is suitable to run a money service business.
• Clarifying the right of an individual to appeal against an HMRC decision that he or she is not a fit and proper person.
• Amending the enforcement powers of the Office of Fair Trading, HMRC and the Financial Services Authority to ensure compliance with the regulations.

The regulations aim to move away from a tick-box based approach to compliance and allow businesses flexibility in the measures they take to protect themselves from the risks posed by money laundering and terrorist financing.

Further amendments to the regulations may be necessary in the near future as a result of the European Commission's proposals for a new money laundering directive.