The Cyprus House of Representatives, on 18 February 2021, enacted the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities (Amending) Law of 2021 (the “Amending Law”), amending the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law of 2007 (188(I)/2007) (the “Law”).
 
The aim of the Amending Law is to transpose the 5^th European Anti-Money Laundering Directive (EU 2018/843, 30 May 2018) into the Law, harmonising and strengthening the existing framework for preventing and suppressing money laundering and terrorist financing.
 
One of the new requirements introduced is the maintenance and operation of the beneficial ownership registers for companies and other legal entities, trusts and other legal arrangements, clubs, foundations, federations and unions, as these are set out below. The persons, who will have access to these registries and the information, which will be disclosed to each person, are determined by the Law:

1. The companies and other legal entities’ register kept by the Registrar of Companies (the “RoC Register”)  

The RoC Register will be accessible by:

1. The Regulator, as this is defined in the Law (i.e. the Central Bank, the CySEC etc.), the Police, the Tax Department and the Customs Department;

2. Any natural or legal person who has an obligation according to the Law for the purposes of conducting their own due diligence (i.e. financial institutions, banks); and

3. The general public.

The start date for the collection of data on beneficial owners of companies and other legal entities is 16 March 2021.

2. The express trusts and other legal arrangements kept by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (the “CySEC Register”)  

The CySEC Register will be accessible by:

1. The Regulator, as this is defined in the Law (i.e. the Central Bank, the CySEC etc.), the Police, the Tax Department and the Customs Department;

2. Any natural or legal person who has an obligation according to the Law for the purposes of conducting their own due diligence (i.e. financial institutions, banks); and

3. Natural and legal persons who prove that they have a legitimate interest accessing the register. As regards “legitimate interest”, the legislation provides that the CySEC will determine if such legitimate interest exists if the person requesting access to such information is duly authorised and such action will contribute in the prevention and suppression of money laundering and terrorist financing.

3.The register of legal bodies, such as clubs, foundations, federations and unions kept by the General Commissioner  (the “General Commissioner  Register”)  

The General Commissioner Register will be accessibly by:
 

1. The Regulator, as this is defined in the Law (i.e. the Central Bank, the CySEC etc.), the Police, the Tax Department and the Customs Department;

2. Any natural or legal person who has an obligation according to the Law for the purposes of conducting their own due diligence (i.e. financial institutions, banks); and

3. The general public.

 
The Registrar of Companies, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and the General Commissioner intend to issue their first directive on the maintenance and operation of their registries, as well as a manual for the operation of the system developed for this purpose.
 
Finally, it is noted, in a nutshell that, pursuant to the Law, the “beneficial owner” of a company is a natural person who owns or controls the company through direct or indirect ownership of a sufficient percentage of shares or voting rights or ownership interest therein, including through bearer shareholding, or through control via other means, noting that the sufficient percentage in question shall need to amount to a shareholding of 25% plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25% in the company.