Obligation to Maintain and File Beneficial Ownership Information

The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (SI 110 of 2019) (“the Regulations”) were signed into law in March 2019.

Under the Regulations, the company is obliged:

to obtain and hold details of its beneficial owners in an internal register (this legal requirement was introduced in November 2016 by SI 560 of 2016); and
to register the company’s beneficial ownership details in the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial & Provident Societies (RBO).

The RBO will be open to accept on-line filings through the RBO website – www.rbo.gov.ie – from 29th July 2019.

The company will have until 22 November 2019 to file the required details of its beneficial owners in the RBO.

If the company fails to complete the required filing by 22 November 2019, the company may be guilty of an offence under the Regulations which may result in the company being prosecuted.

If your company is listed on a regulated market that is subject to disclosure requirements consistent with EU law or subject to equivalent international standards which ensure adequate transparency of ownership information, it is not required to file beneficial ownership data with the RBO (Article 3(6), 4AMLD refers).

The company is reminded of its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018 to protect any personal data it obtains for the purposes of complying with the Regulations and to inform its beneficial owner(s) that it will be sharing their personal data with the RBO.

Details of the beneficial ownership information which is required to be obtained, held and filed by the company, videos on how to file with the RBO and frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be found at www.rbo.gov.ie.  If the company cannot find an answer to a question in the FAQs, you can send an e-mail to enquiries@rbo.gov.ie