Central Register of Beneficial Owners to open for filing on 29 July 2019

Written by Neil Millar

As of the 29^th of July 2019, the Register of Beneficial Ownership will be open to accept filings. Filing of a beneficial ownership can only be done through the online portal through the website- www.RBO.gov.ie.

Article 30 (1) of the EU’s 4^th Anti Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD) requires EU member states to put into national provisions requiring corporate and legal entities to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial owners in their own internal beneficial ownership register. (Statutory Instrument 110/2019).

Companies and Societies have until Friday 22^nd of November 2019 to file their data with the RBO to avoid breaching their statutory duty to file. Any company who’s data is not filed by 22^nd November 2019 will be deemed to be late and may be subject to sanctions as prescribed in the regulations. All newly incorporated companies are required to register their beneficial ownership within 5 months of the date of incorporation.

A beneficial owner is an individual(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership of a significant percentage of shares or voting rights or ownership of that interest in that entity.

Direct ownership means a shareholding of 25% plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25% in the entity held by an individual. Indirect ownership means a shareholding of 25% plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25% in the entity held by a corporate entity, which is under the control of an individual(s), or by multiple corporate entities, which are under the control of the same individual(s).

Where no beneficial owners can be identified (for instance, because the entity’s ultimate parent is a publicly traded company, with no single individual shareholder holding or controlling more than 25%), the relevant entity is obliged to record the details of its senior managing officials on the register. Such officials include directors and the CEO of a relevant entity.

So if it is the case that there is no individual who ultimately owns 25% plus on share in the company, the Senior Management Officials should be entered onto the Register.

Should you have any questions about registering beneficial ownership please do not hesitate to contact Crowley Millar at law@crowleymillar.com or calling us on (01) 6761100.