Precious metals, stones and products services (Reform)
Learn about the new designated services for buying or selling precious metals, stones and products, or a combination of these items, for $10,000 or more in physical currency (cash such as bank notes or coins, whether Australian or foreign currency) or virtual assets.
On this page
- Designated services
- The impact of being regulated
- Items that are regulated
- Transactions that are linked or appear to be linked
- When the designated service starts
- Transactions involving a mix of unregulated and regulated items
- Our expectations
- Related pages
Designated services
This section refers to the Act section 6(3).
Whether your business has anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) obligations depends on the services you provide, known as designated services.
If your business provides one or more designated services that have a geographical link to Australia, you’ll have AML/CTF obligations.
Businesses that buy or sell precious metals, stones or products provide a designated service when they buy or sell these items (or a combination) in the course of carrying on a business and the purchase or sale satisfies all of the following:
- is valued at $10,000 or greater
- involves a single transaction or a series of transactions that appear linked
- is made using physical currency, virtual assets or a combination of physical currency and virtual assets at or above the $10,000 value threshold.
If these items are bought or sold using only a debit or credit card or a bank transfer, the business isn’t providing a designated service.
The relevant designated service defined in the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the Act) is extracted below:
Table 2— Precious metals, stones and products
| Item | Provision of a designated service | Customer of the designated service |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
buying or selling one or more of the following items in the course of carrying on a business, where the purchase involves the transfer of physical currency or virtual assets (or a combination of physical currency and virtual assets) with a total value of not less than $10,000, whether the purchase is made in a single transaction or in several transactions that are linked or appear to be linked: (a) precious metal; (b) precious stones; (c) precious products; (d) any combination of any 2 or more of the items referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) |
the buyer or the seller (as the case may be) |
The impact of being regulated
If you provide this designated service from 1 July 2026, you must comply with the Act and Rules from this date.
This means you’ll need to enrol with us and meet your AML/CTF obligations.
You must also complete necessary steps to know you customer before you start to provide them with a designated service. Learn more about initial customer due diligence.
We’ve developed this guidance to describe and support you to meet these obligations.
Items that are regulated
This section refers to the Act section 5A and Explanatory Memorandum paragraph 336.
Precious metals, stones and products are:
- precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium or an alloy with at least 2% weight of any of these substances (whether in a manufactured or unmanufactured state).
- precious stones: substances of gem quality with market-recognised beauty, rarity and value, including (but not limited to) beryl, corundum, diamond, garnet, jadeite jade, opal, pearl or topaz.
- precious products: items made of, containing, or having attached to it, any precious metals or stones (or both), that are any of the following: jewellery, watches and other items of personal adornment, along with any article of goldsmith’s or silversmith’s wares.
When deciding if a substance outside the above list is a precious stone, we consider that:
- gem quality: means that the substance’s colour, cut, clarity or carat can be assessed or graded.
- market-recognised beauty, rarity and value: requires the existence of a market for the substance. Assuming a market is identified, beauty is a quality or characteristic that excites or delights the eye or the aesthetic sense. Rarity is something rare, unusual or uncommon. Value means of material or monetary worth.
It doesn’t matter whether the substance is synthetic, natural or man-made.
Examples of precious products include a:
- ring crafted from gold and pearl
- stainless-steel watch with diamonds set on the face
- headdress made of platinum and garnet
- gold or diamond grill (dental jewellery).
Personal adornments are items that can be worn by a person to add beauty or interest to an outfit. Personal adornments will be precious products if they contain, or have attached to them, any precious metals or stones. Examples include:
- belts
- hair clips.
Goldsmiths or silversmiths’ wares broadly capture products crafted from a precious metal and made or sold by goldsmiths or silversmiths. Examples include tableware, trophies, goblets and ornamental items and other articles of personal, household, office or religious use.
Transactions that are linked or appear to be linked
This section refers to the Explanatory Memorandum paragraph 340.
If, in the course of carrying on a business, you sell or purchase precious metals, stones or products (or a combination of these items) for $10,000 or more in physical currency or virtual assets through a single transaction or transactions that are linked or appear to be linked, this is a designated service.
Examples of transactions that we regard as linked or appearing to be linked include:
- a customer’s activities, or the actions of the business selling or buying the precious metals, stones or products, indicate they’ve deliberately split a larger transaction into smaller separate transactions below the $10,000 threshold to try and avoid AML/CTF obligations
- multiple transactions linked by invoice, payment or date of sale: multiple payments made under a single invoice, a single payment made for multiple invoices or payment made on the same date
- lay-by payments or other payments made through instalments.
If you identify a customer who appears to be splitting larger physical currency and/or virtual asset transactions into smaller payments to avoid a $10,000 transaction, they may be structuring to avoid triggering your obligation to report a transaction to us. This is an offence.
Learn more about structuring.
You’ll also provide a designated service when a single regulated item worth $10,000 is paid in physical currency and/or virtual assets over multiple instalments.
When the designated service starts
You start providing a designated service from the time that all of the following are satisfied:
- the sale or purchase is completed
- where there’s either one transaction, or more than one transaction that’s linked or appears to be linked, from the point where the value of transactions in physical currency and/or virtual assets exceed $10,000.
Transactions involving regulated items
If your customers can make purchases from you, or sales to you, using physical currency or virtual assets, you may inadvertently provide a designated service.
For example, your customer may purchase a single item worth $15,000 and pay for it over multiple instalments:
- instalment 1: physical currency transaction completed on day 1 with a value of $5000
- instalment 2: physical currency transaction completed on day 2 with a value of $5000
- instalment 3: virtual asset transaction completed on day 3 with a value of $5000.
While each individual transaction is below the $10,000 threshold of the designated service, they’re transactions that are linked or appear to be linked, so are combined. This means the business begins providing a designated service on day 2.
Transactions involving a mix of unregulated and regulated items
If only part of the sale involves regulated items, the value of those items must be $10,000 or more for there to be a designated service.
Where a transaction, or multiple transactions that are linked or appear to be linked, involve a mix of regulated and unregulated items, only regulated items will be counted towards the $10,000 threshold.
For example, a shop sells a customer $11,500 of items in a single transaction, which includes:
- a belt buckle with gold and ruby elements – $8,500
- leather shoes with no precious metals or stones – $3,000.
This purchase isn’t a designated service, because the value of the regulated item (belt buckle) alone is valued under $10,000.
Our expectations
If your business provides this designated service, we expect you to do all of the following:
- identify the items you sell or buy that qualify as precious metals, precious stones and precious products
- establish systems to detect any transactions that are linked or appear to be linked to the sale or purchase of these items using physical currency, virtual assets or a combination of both, valued at $10,000 or more
- establish an AML/CTF program to make sure you meet your AML/CTF obligations when these transactions arise.
You must discharge a range of AML/CTF obligations before you start to sell or buy an item or items regulated under this designated service. This includes identifying your customer and developing and implementing an AML/CTF program.
If your business doesn’t adopt the transaction detection systems mentioned, there’s a significant chance that your business won’t identify these transactions and discharge your AML/CTF obligations in relation to them within the required timeframes. Non-compliance with these obligations carries significant penalties.
This risk is magnified when dealing with transactions that are linked or appear to be linked. Many of these transactions, particularly transactions deliberately structured under the $10,000 threshold, will be difficult to detect without establishing dedicated processes.
Related pages
This guidance sets out how we interpret the Act, along with associated Rules and regulations. Australian courts are ultimately responsible for interpreting these laws and determining if any provisions of these laws are contravened.
The examples and scenarios in this guidance are meant to help explain our interpretation of these laws. They’re not exhaustive or meant to cover every possible scenario.
This guidance provides general information and isn't a substitute for legal advice. This guidance avoids legal language wherever possible and it might include generalisations about the application of the law. Some provisions of the law referred to have exceptions or important qualifications. In most cases your particular circumstances must be taken into account when determining how the law applies to you.