The Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property announced on the 28th of March 2024, in the context of facilitating compliance with the Register of Beneficial Owners, that by presenting a Declaration it is possible to find out in which companies someone is appointed as officer and/or Shareholder and the search will be made based on the following criteria:

  1. For a natural person, must be stated correctly the number of the Identity Card or Passport in the case of foreigners;
  2. For legal entities, the registration number of the company must be declared.

The list that will be provided, will include the registered organizations in which the number of the identity card or registration number have been declared correctly.

The Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property further announced on the 29th of March 2024, that the deadline for submitting the details of the Beneficial Owners to the Registry, for a company or other legal entity that has been incorporated or registered prior the 14th of August 1974 and had its registered office or exercised its activities or the entire property in an occupied or inaccessible area and has not since been active in the free areas and which falls under the category of companies as defined in article 391A of the Companies Law Cap. 113 and in Note 2 of the Law 149(I)/1999 Special Provision, extended due to their specific nature, until the 30th of September 2024.

It is noted that from the 1st of October 2024 the non-compliance will result in the imposition of administrative and other sanctions, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering from Illegal Activities.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.