France and the Netherlands commit to public beneficial ownership registry
Published on 12th May 2016
France and the Netherlands committed to a public beneficial ownership registry for legal entities at the Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May 2016.
EU countries are already under an obligation to introduce a beneficial ownership register for legal entities registered in their jurisdiction by June 2017 under the 4th Money Laundering Directive but the commitments from France and the Netherlands go further in confirming that the registers in those jurisdictions will be open to the public. The Netherlands has also committed to taking steps to ensure transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contracting.
The UK has already legislated for a publicly accessible beneficial ownership register for companies – known as the “people with significant control” (PSC) register – which was introduced for all UK companies on 6 April 2016. And it has also begun consultation on a similar regime for foreign companies holding UK property or bidding for UK central government contracts. See our PSC register hub for more details.
