Countries › Dominican Republic › Guide › 13. Regulation › AML duties for non financial businesses

AML duties for non financial businesses

Last verified: 2026-10-30 · Status: Stable

Lawyers, notaries, accountants, real estate agents, builders, jewelers, car and boat dealers, pawnshops and factoring firms are obligated subjects, mostly under the DGII. A DGII notice counted about 68,693 such subjects in 2021. They must register with the UAF, name a compliance officer, report, and pass an external audit at least every two years.

Key facts

Non financial subjects on DGII list, provisional	68693 entitiesDGII Aviso 9-21, as of 2021-04-21 · in force
External audit at least every	2 yearsNorma General 01-2018 art. 32, as of 2026-10-30 · in force
Tell the DGII of the officer within	10 working daysNorma General 01-2018 art. 11, as of 2026-10-30 · in force

The rule

1. Listed non financial subjects are casinos and lotteries; factoring firms; real estate agents in client sales; dealers in precious metals, stones and jewels; lawyers, notaries, accountants and legal professionals for listed client work; habitual dealers in vehicles, firearms, boats and aircraft; pawnshops; and builders.Ley 155-17 contra el Lavado de Activos y el Financiamiento del Terrorismo, art. 33, 2017-06-01 official text · verified 2026-10-30

2. Professionals are caught when they deal with real estate, manage client funds, accounts or assets, form or run companies, buy or sell companies, or act as nominee director, shareholder or registered address.Ley 155-17 contra el Lavado de Activos y el Financiamiento del Terrorismo, art. 33 literal e, 2017-06-01 official text · verified 2026-10-30

3. Norma 01-2018 covers factoring firms and lawyers, notaries, accountants and other legal professionals.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 2, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

4. Norma 02-2018 covers habitual dealers in motor vehicles, boats and aircraft.Norma General 02-2018, DGII, art. 2, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

5. Norma 03-2018 covers real estate agents, builders and trust companies that do not serve financial firms or public offerings.Norma General 03-2018, DGII, art. 2, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

6. Norma 04-2018 covers dealers in precious metals, stones and jewelry, firearm dealers and pawnshops.Norma General 04-2018, DGII, art. 2, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

7. Norma 05-2018 sets the DGII's sanction procedure for these subjects.Norma General 05-2018, DGII, art. 1, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

8. Builders are obligated only if they take part in buying, selling and promoting real estate or link buyers and sellers for a commission. Others should update their RNC to be excluded.DGII Aviso 12-26, Notice, 2026 official text · verified 2026-10-30

9. Subjects must hold an RNC and register with the UAF.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 5, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

10. The compliance officer can be the owner, manager or any employee without a conflict, must be a natural person, and is registered by form at the UAF. For individuals and EIRLs, the person or owner is the officer.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 10 and art. 11, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

11. Tell the DGII who the officer is within 10 working days after UAF registration is enabled.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 11 paragraph II, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

12. Send the DGII statistics on suspicious reports in the first 15 working days of the next month, only for months with a report. Quarterly data on clients, volume and risk goes in the first 15 working days after the quarter.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 30 and art. 31, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

13. An external audit is needed at least every two years, by an accountant or expert with more than five years of accredited experience.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 32, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

14. A cash transaction report is due for each act of US$15,000 or more. Part payments of one act do not produce a new report.Norma General 01-2018, DGII, art. 34 and paragraph, 2018-01-18 official text · verified 2026-10-30

15. The DGII published a list of non financial subjects with a provisional total of 68,693, to be updated from time to time.DGII Aviso 9-21, Notice, 2021-04-21 official text · verified 2026-10-30

Step by step

Search the DGII list and read your RNC activity.
Register at the UAF and tell the DGII the officer within 10 working days.
Adopt a prevention manual, training plan and risk method.
Check clients at the right level: normal, simplified or enhanced.
Calendar the report dates and the two year audit.
Keep files for 10 years.

Common traps

A small law or accounting firm is in scope when forming companies or handling client funds.
Listing follows your RNC activity. A builder that only builds should fix its activity code instead of ignoring the list.
Aviso 9-21 refers to Norma 15-2018 while the UAF lists the sanction norm as 05-2018. The text read here is 05-2018.
The officer of a law firm cannot do commercial work tied to the art. 33 literal e activities.
Keep proof of UAF registration on file, as counterparties and supervisors can ask for it.

Sources

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