Update: Public access to beneficial owners information removed

Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)’s ruling last week, which invalidated a provision of the EU’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive that gave the general public access to information on the beneficial owners of companies, the Maltese Business Registry (MBR) is limiting access to the register of beneficial owners to competent authorities and subject persons only.

The CJEU said that general public access was neither limited to what is strictly necessary nor proportionate to the objective pursued and struck down the provision on grounds of interference with the rights to respect for private life and to the protection of private data.

Subject persons (i.e. persons carrying out relevant activity/financial business, including auditors, accountants, notaries and corporate service providers) who want to access beneficial ownership information will need to register with the MBR in order to gain access to the register of beneficial owners.

Contact us if you have questions about this update.