Ireland limits public access to register of beneficial owners

Under the revised legislation, individuals seeking to access the information on the Irish register of beneficial owners must now file a formal submission to the Companies Registration Office Ireland (CRO).

Corporate law expert Gerry Beausang of Pinsent Masons in Dublin said the changes do not impact on the reporting obligations companies have in respect of the register.

In November 2022, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that the public’s access to information on beneficial ownership, provided for in the EU’s anti-money laundering directive, constituted a serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Under the directive, the register of beneficial owners must include the names, dates of birth and countries of residence of beneficial owners as well as the size of their interest in the relevant company.

The CJEU’s decision in the so-called ‘Sovim’ case prompted public access to the register in Ireland, which is managed by the CRO, to be suspended while a review was undertaken. Now Ireland’s minister for finance has signed into law an amending statutory instrument setting out new rules of access.

Under the new rules, an individual can no longer access information available on the register without first making a formal submission to the CRO, supplemented with additional information or documents as requested by the registrar.

The submission must demonstrate that the individual is engaged in the prevention, detection or investigation of money laundering or terrorist financing offences; that they are seeking to inspect the information for the purposes of engaging a related activity – though such activity need not necessarily relate to cases of pending administrative or legal proceedings in respect of the relevant entity concerned; and that the relevant entity concerned is connected with persons convicted, whether in Ireland or elsewhere, of an offence consisting of money laundering or terrorist financing, or holds assets in a high-risk third country.

Beausang said: “Companies should note that the new rules have no impact on their reporting obligations in relation to their beneficial ownership information and they should continue to hold a register of each beneficial owner containing the beneficial owner’s particulars – name, residential address, date of birth, PPS number, date of entry into register and nature and extent of interest – and these details must be filed with the registrar.”

“‘Designated persons’, such as financial institutions, accountants, auditors, tax advisers, and legal professionals, will also continue to have access to the register for the purposes of carrying out mandatory anti-money laundering investigations in respect of clients,” he said.

“It remains to be seen whether the Sovim decision will have a wider impact on what information filed by Irish companies will be publicly available. For example, the level of personal information on directors which is publicly available with the CRO has long been contentious issue, particularly for non-resident directors,” Beausang said.