December
2022 – As of 2020, European Union
("EU") Member States are obliged to
make details of ultimate beneficial
owners ("UBOs") of corporate and
other legal entities available to the general public. However, in
light of the recent decision of the Court of Justice of European
Union ("the ECJ"), it is now
questionable whether this obligation will remain.
The requirement to make details of UBOs publicly available was
introduced by Article 30 (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the
prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of
money laundering or terrorist financing
("the AML
Directive"). The Member States are entitled to
restrict public availability of details on UBOs under the AML
Directive in the following cases:
