The fourth and fifth EU anti money laundering directives introduced obligations on entities to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on beneficial ownership and on member states to ensure that beneficial ownership information is stored in a central register located outside a company (Central Register).
In Ireland these obligations were introduced under the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (“2019 Regulations”). In the 2019 Regulations, unrestricted access to the information in the Central Register is afforded to certain persons as set out in the 2019 Regulations and restricted access to information in the Central Register will be made available to the general public and designated persons for example a bank carrying out customer due diligence.
In 2022 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that access of the general public to information on beneficial ownership registers constituted an interference with rights of personal privacy and data protection under articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of fundamental rights.
Readers might note that Ireland has recently responded to the CJEU ruling by implementing the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 on 13 June 2023 .Now ,under the restricted access heading it must now be shown (by “any person” as opposed to “a member of the public” under the 2019 Regulations) that the corporate or other legal entity about which information is sought (i) is connected with persons convicted (whether in the State or elsewhere) of an offence consisting of money laundering or terrorist financing, or (ii) holds assets in a high-risk third country. If this can be shown then the person will be able to access the name, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence, and the statement about the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held.
This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.
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