Government body as a customer

People search “government body CDD AUSTRAC” when a two-partner firm is instructed by a local council and wonders whether to order a company extract. Checked against AUSTRAC’s overview of initial customer due diligence on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The shape of initial customer due diligence is customer due diligence requirements. How a company check differs from a person is KYB versus KYC. The sector map is /tranche-2.

Name the body before you order anything

A suburban firm acting for a council often reaches for the company search it uses on a developer. A council is not that customer. Government body CDD under AUSTRAC starts with the body that receives the designated service. The chief executive, the instructing officer, and the mayor are not substitute customers; write the legal name of the body on the file, then open the customer type your program uses for a government body.

This page is the sorting step. It is not the guide for that customer type. AUSTRAC’s initial customer due diligence material sets out what the program collects. A blog does not add a document, and it does not delete one; if the body later instructs you through a company it owns, that company is a different customer and a different check.

• Write the body’s name. The customer line is the council, department, or authority. It is not the officer who sent the email.
• Leave the company extract. A body with no shareholders is not fixed by a company search. Order that search when the customer is a company.
• Keep the officer off the customer line. The officer may still be a person your program identifies. That is a second line, not a rename of the body.
• A government-owned company stays a company. Public ownership does not turn a company into a department. Use the company path your program already has.

Four files that look governmental

Where this page stops

This page is the government-body customer. It is not the full initial due diligence procedure. That procedure sits on AUSTRAC customer due diligence. Read the official guide for the customer type before you collect anything.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. A government-body file does not include a company KYB check unless the customer is actually a company. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not classify a government body or choose the customer type on the file.

Frequently Asked Questions