knowledge 29 July 2019 |

Corporate Beneficial Ownership: Central Register Now Open

Background

Since 15 November 2016, certain Irish corporate entities are required to maintain registers containing their respective beneficial ownership information under the EU (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2016 (the “2016 Regulations”).This requirement has been restated and supplemented in the recent EU (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (the “Regulations”).

Part 3 of the Regulations imposes an obligation on relevant entities to file their beneficial ownership information in the Central Register to be maintained by the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial Provident Societies (the “Registrar”). The Central Register, the RBO, is now in force, and is accepting online filings through its website – www.rbo.gov.ie.

Central Register Filing Obligation

Timing

Under Part 3, a relevant entity:

• incorporated before 22 June 2019 must register its beneficial ownership details in the RBO by 22 November 2019; and
• incorporated on or after 22 June 2019 must register its beneficial ownership details in the RBO within 5 months of its date of incorporation.

Information

The beneficial ownership information to be provided to the RBO includes: 

• each beneficial owner’s name, date of birth, nationality, and residential address;
• a statement of the nature and extent of the interest held, or the nature and extent of control exercised by each beneficial owner;
• the relevant entity’s name and number as they appear on the relevant entity’s register (maintained under the Act or the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, as applicable); and
• for verification, the PPS number of each of the relevant entity’s beneficial owners to whom one is issued.

The Regulations provide that the relevant entity will provide such other information as the Registrar may determine. Further, additional information may be required depending upon whether the beneficial ownership information is delivered to the Registrar by the relevant entity, acting through its officer or employee, or by a person acting on behalf of the relevant entity (referred to in the Regulations as “the presenter”). With regard to the PPS number of a beneficial owner which is delivered to the Registrar, the Regulations provide that the Registrar shall not disclose that number. The Regulations further provide that the Registrar can only store a version (a “hashed version”) of the number from which it is not possible to determine the actual PPS number.   

Maintaining Information

The Regulations impose an obligation on the relevant entity to keep the information in its beneficial ownership register aligned with the information that the relevant entity has filed with the Registrar in the Central Register. The relevant entity must deliver any changes in the relevant entity’s beneficial ownership information to the Registrar so as to allow the Central Register to be amended with the corresponding changes. The Regulations refer to this as the “follow up obligation” and prescribe the process and requirements for compliance with it. 

Access to the Central Register

Unrestricted Access

The Central Register can be inspected by certain members of the Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners, FIU Ireland, the Criminal Assets Bureau and members or staff of a competent authority engaged in the prevention, detection or investigation of possible money laundering or terrorist financing. The ranking and authorisation requirements of those who can inspect the Central Register are prescribed in detail in the Regulations.

Restricted Access

A designated person will have a right of access to some information in the Central Register when the relevant entity enters into an occasional transaction (a transaction in relation to which the designated person is required to apply customer due diligence measures) or forms a business relationship with a designated person. In such a case, the designated person can access each beneficial owner’s name, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality and a statement of the nature and extent of the interest held, or the nature and extent of control exercised of each such beneficial owner.

A member of the public may also inspect similar information as the designated person (above) may inspect. The right of access of both designated persons and the public is restricted in certain cases. For example, where the beneficial owner is a minor, then the person seeking access will need to provide the Registrar with further information as to why that person considers it is in the public interest that the information be disclosed to him or her. In addition, the Registrar may require the person to pay a fee in respect of the access provided. 

 Failure to Comply with the Regulations

A relevant entity that fails to comply with its obligations, including failing to deliver the prescribed beneficial ownership information to the Registrar or failing to provide updated information for the purposes of the Central Register, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine (not greater than €5,000), or on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €500,000.

Further Information

Other briefings that address related areas are “Corporate Beneficial Ownership: Central Register Requirements Imminent”; “Irish Corporate Entities: Establishing a Register of Beneficial Owners” and “Trustees – Do You Need to Establish a Beneficial Ownership Register”.