When do AML obligations apply to my office?

AML obligations attach to defined obliged entities — notaries, lawyers (for certain transactions), accountants, tax advisors, estate agents and company-service providers — when they carry out activities the law lists as in-scope.

For most professions the trigger is assisting with a financial or real-estate transaction, forming or managing a company, or handling client funds. Pure litigation, for a lawyer, generally falls outside scope; conveyancing or company structuring falls inside it.

The practical test is per-mandate, not per-client: the same client may bring one matter that is in scope and another that is not. Recording that scoping decision — and why — is itself part of compliance, and is exactly what a supervisor asks to see.