Overview Of Relevant Points From The ECJ Judgment And Its Further Implications

On 22 November 2022 the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its judgment¹ in Joined Cases C-37/20 Luxembourg Business Registers and C-601/20 Sovim (the Judgment). These cases were referred to the CJEU by the Luxembourg District Court as to matters of interpretation of EU law for a preliminary ruling² , following the court's consideration of arguments from the claimants, a Luxembourgish corporation and its beneficial owner respectively who had previously requested the Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR) to restrict the general public's access to information about them. The Judgment has a profound impact on the EU legislative and regulatory regimes and compliance requirements in respect of prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crime as well as various sanctions regimes that financial services firms and non-financial corporates (collectively Obliged Entities) are required to comply with.