Update on Public Access to Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) Register

In light of the recent Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEE) in joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, of November 22, 2022, access to the Register of Beneficial Owners for the general public was suspended as of the 23^rd of November 2022.

According to the above-mentioned Judgement of the CJEE, Article 1, point 15(c) of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and the Council, of 30^th May 2018, which provides for access to the information on the beneficial ownership of legal entities to any member of the general public, is invalid as it constitutes a serious interference with the fundamental rights of respect for private life and to the protection of personal data, enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 respectively, of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

As provided for by the Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property (the “RoC”) in its announcement of 28/11/2022 obliged entities as defined in the Cypriot AML Law, which among others include lawyers , independent legal consultants, administrative  service providers providing fiduciary services, banks, auditors, tax consultants etc. will be able to request and receive beneficial ownership information in the context of performing their customer due diligence obligation subject to by submitting additionally a solemn declaration confirming that the information on the Beneficial Owners is requested within the context of performing customer due diligence.

As per the Solemn Declaration, the physical or legal persons requesting access to the UBO’s register, filing the Solemn Declaration, will need to declare that:

1. They are an obliged entity according to Article 2A of the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law of 2007 (188(I)/2007) and
2. The reason for requesting the information is within the context of performing customer due diligence and
3. They have knowledge that any false and/or misleading statement would be subject to penalties, being a criminal offense under the penalty of perjury in accordance with the Laws of the Republic of Cyprus.