Establishment of UBO Register in Cyprus - everything you need to know
The establishment of a Central Registry of Ultimate Beneficial Owners and other Legal Entities has been transposed into National Law following a meeting held, by the Council of Ministers, on the 16th of December 2020, regarding the transition of the 4th European Directive (EU)2015/849 of the European Parliament and of its Council of the 20th of May 2015, on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, into National Law.
The decision was made pursuant to the provisions of Article 57(b) of “The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Laws from 2007 to 2019”. The Council of Ministers decided to:
1. Appoint the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver of the Ministry of Energy, Trade, and Industry, as the competent authority for the maintenance of the central register of ultimate beneficial owners of companies and other legal entities; and
2. Authorise the Registrar to collect information about the ultimate beneficial owners and other legal entities through the interim system that has been developed.
The 18th of January 2021, has been set by the Registrar of Companies as the start date of Data collection of the companies. From this date and 6 months forward, until the 19th of July 2021, companies must submit the relevant information into the system. Access to the system will be possible only for the competent authorities, upon request to the Registrar of Companies.
The data will then be transferred into the final system solution, which will be developed in the second half of 2021 and access to it will include the public at large, based on the 5th AML European Directive (EU) 2018/843 which has not yet been introduced within the Cypriot Legislation.
In case you may have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for further assistance.
Written by Christos Eleftheriou, Junior Compliance Associate of FAI Comply