Register of the actual owners of legal entities

A big novelty in this area is the directive number 2018/43 of the European Parliament and Council, which amends the fourth money laundering directive. Under this directive, member states must grant access to the information on actual owners through the central register to the public by the 10^th January 2020. In addition, the central registers of the Member States should be connected together until 10^th March 2021.

The rules adopted on the basis of this Directive will allow the public to access certain data registered in this register about the actual owner. The deadline for registering the actual owners of companies, which are registered in the commercial register, is set until 1^st January 2019. No sanctions have yet been set for non-compliance with this general obligation to register the actual owner. The new amending directive states that non-compliance should be a subject of sanctioning.