Company Secretarial Services

Each Member State of the EU must implement the 6th AML Directive into national law, while the Regulation will have direct effect, ensuring uniformity. The legislation introduces stricter UBO identification and registration requirements.

A UBO is an individual who:

• Holds more than 25% of shares, voting rights, or ownership interest in an entity.
• Exercises ultimate control over an entity by other means.
• If no individual qualifies, senior managing officials may be designated as pseudo-UBOs.

Depending on the specific requirements in each Member State, you have a legal obligation to register the UBOs of the entity in the UBO register. Each Member State shall have its own manner of registration. The registration must be accurate, complete, and timely.  Required information shall depend per Member State and may include:

• Name, date of birth, nationality, and address.
• Nature and extent of the UBO’s interest in the entity.
• Date of identification as a UBO.

Registration must be accurate and kept up to date. Non-compliance may result in sanctions under the relevant laws of the specific Member State.

Access varies by Member States. In some Member States the amount of access is diversified between different groups:

• Authorities (tax), financial intelligence, investigative services and institutions that fall under the AML legislation, such as banks to conduct custmer due dilligence,
• Limited information is publicly available (e.g., name and country of residence).
• Due to privacy concerns, public access in the Netherlands has been restricted following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2022.

In some Member States, institutions that qualify as AML-institutions must verify UBO information. If discrepancies arise between their findings and the register, they must report these to the relevant register.