Since its publication in December 2007, the MLR 8 Guide to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist activity has been amended in a small number of areas. The revised guidance is now available.

The amendments include a practical revision to aspects of Section 4-Senior Management Responsibilities. The requirement in Section 4 that all businesses must have policy statements that document their risk-profiles and anti-money laundering procedures has been removed.

As the policy statement is for the purpose of internal communication it would not be necessary in a small business with few or no employees. This issue is more appropriately covered in Section 5: Internal control, which includes the need for documentation of the business's anti-money laundering risk management policies and procedures, but also allows for the fact that the need for and extent of such systems of control will be determined by factors such as the size and nature of the business.

Full details of all amendments and access to the revised document is available at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/mlr-guide.htm

In addition, HMRC have added new FAQs on the Money Laundering Regulations. The questions deal with queries from auditors and small accounting/bookkeeping service providers on the requirement to register.