This law incorporates the latest recommendations of GAFI, the FATF-style Spanish financial action task force set up by the government to implement international anti-money laundering standards, placing domestic Spanish regulation at the forefront of international best practices, by including the very latest international demands.

The main new feature is the further ramification of the "risk-based approach" that is already established under current law, incorporating the requirement of regulated entities to analyze the main risks they face, in accordance with the type of business, product or customer with which they establish business relationships. On the basis of this analysis, regulated entities have certain obligations of a procedural nature, to ensure a match between the internal policies and procedures and the risk profile of the respective entity.

The law also allows the State Tax Department (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria) to request and obtain the information that regulated entities hold or manage, on the grounds of diligence obligations contained in the law. It also gives the regulated entities discretionary powers to check out the professional or business activity declared by its customers through personal visits to the places where they carry out their business activities.