Cyprus: UBO Register is in Effect

In the context of the transposition into national law of Article 61A (4)

(a) of the 4th European Directive (EU 2015/849) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing of “On the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Laws 2007 to 2019” provides for the maintenance of a central register of real beneficiary companies and other legal entities (N13 (I) / 2018).

The Council of Ministers, during its Meeting, dated 16/12/2020, and after the relevant proposal by the “Advisory Authority for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing”, made pursuant to the provisions of Article 57 (b) of the “On Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Laws from 2007 to 2019” decided the below:

• Appoint the Registrar of Companies and Official Recipient of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, as the competent authority for the maintenance of the central Register of Real Beneficiaries of Companies(UBOs) and other legal entities.

• Authorize the Registrar of Companies to collect information about the real beneficiaries(UBOs) and other legal entities through the system intermediate solution developed.

Based on the above, the Registrar of Companies announces that the start date of the Data collection for companies is set for Monday, 18.01.2021.

From this date, the companies will be granted a period of 6 months (i.e until 19/7/2021) for registration in the system that has been developed for the information concerning the real beneficiaries (UBOs) of their legal entities. It is emphasized that the system that has been developed is an intermediate solution and access to this can be possible only for the competent authorities, upon request to the Registrar of Companies.

The information collected will be transferred to the final system solution to be developed in the second half of 2021 and access to it will be based on the provisions of the 5th European Directive (EU 2018/843) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018, concerning the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The companies are invited to start collecting the above information which they should already have in their possession, based on the provisions of article 61 (A) of the “On Preventing and Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law of 2007, as amended.

In addition, in some cases these data are kept by liable entities that provide services to companies under the provisions of Articles 2A (d), 60 and 61 of the above Law in the context of the exercise of due diligence measures and on the basis of the provisions of the Regulation of Business Services and Related Issues Laws of 2012 to 2020. In case it is deemed necessary, the provision of legal advice is recommended.

The Registrar of Companies of Cyprus will return in due course with more information and the relevant link for submitting this information.