Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2023
255. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Finance the steps that are being taken, domestically and at EU level, to ensure that public access to the register of beneficial is restored; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29794/23]
View answerIn November 2022 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, in Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, that a provision of the EU anti-money-laundering directive, under which information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities, held in central registers, must be provided to the general public, is invalid. The Court found that the provision interfered with the rights recognised in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Therefore access for the public must now be on the basis of the previous version of that Directive, meaning on the basis of having a legitimate interest.
Following receipt of legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General and in order to ensure our domestic legislation complies with the Court’s ruling, a Statutory Instrument was prepared amending Regulations which govern two of Ireland’s registers of beneficial ownership information - the Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial & Provident Societies (RBO), which operates under the auspices of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; and the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, Credit Unions and Unit Trusts, which is operated by the Central Bank of Ireland. I have now signed this Statutory Instrument (S.I.) into law as S.I. 308 of 2023, the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.
The central feature of this Statutory Instrument is an amendment of Regulation 25 (3) of S.I. 110 of 2019, such that access to the two Registers referenced above can be provided to persons who have - and can demonstrate - a "legitimate interest", in accordance with the Court’s judgement. Legitimate interest will be determined in line with what is already provided for in Regulation 27(4) of S.I. No. 194/2021, which established the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (which is not affected by the court ruling). In summary, the requester would have to justify access, to the Registrar, by demonstrating that the requester is engaged in the prevention, detection or investigation of money laundering and/or terrorist financing offences. In addition, the person must demonstrate that the entity which is the subject of the access request is connected with persons convicted (whether in the State or elsewhere) of an offence consisting of money laundering or terrorist financing, or that the entity holds assets in a high-risk third country.
At EU level, new anti-money laundering legislation is still being negotiated, following its publication by the European Commission in July 2021. On 7 December 2022, the Council of the European Union agreed its position on two parts of this package - a new EU Directive and EU Regulation - and published its mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament (the Council had previously agreed its position on the other elements of the draft package). It can be seen from this mandate that the Council proposes that provision for access to beneficial ownership information, by the public, should be on the basis of ‘legitimate interest’. Negotiation of this draft legislation with the European Parliament is currently underway and agreement is expected to be reached during 2023.
Further amendments to domestic legislation in this regard may be required as part of the transposition process, once that new legislation is agreed.
