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ARTICLE · 01 JUNE 2026

AML Playbook: EU Edition #1: The New EU AML/CTF Package

A&O Shearman
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The European Union has fundamentally restructured its anti-money laundering framework through a comprehensive legislative package that replaces fragmented national implementations with directly applicable regulations. This transformation introduces a new EU-wide supervisory authority, expands the scope of regulated entities, and establishes harmonized customer due diligence requirements across all member states.

European UnionGovernment, Public Sector
Mia Dassas
Mia Dassas
Helena Finn
Helena Finn
Axel de Backer
Axel de Backer
Martina Stegmaier
Martina Stegmaier
Amilcare Sada
Amilcare Sada
Pawel Mruk-Zawirski
Pawel Mruk-Zawirski
Peter Jedinak
Peter Jedinak
Salvador Ruiz Bachs
Salvador Ruiz Bachs
Pien Kerckhaert
Pien Kerckhaert
+1 more
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Back in early July 2021, the European Commission presented a new set of legislative proposals to reform, improve and strengthen the European anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework (the AML Package).

The AML Package was adopted on April 24, 2024, and will come into force on July 10, 2027 (with the exception of certain provisions which have already come into force and others which will come into force at an earlier or later date).

The objective of the AML Package is mainly to harmonise the AML/CTF framework across the EU, by ensuring that the same AML/CTF obligations apply across member states, without divergences in implementation of the relevant rules or divergences in supervisory practices between regulators. To achieve these objectives, the AML Package is structured around three pillars1.

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