Access to the Register of Beneficial Owners made conditional on proof of legitimate interest – draft order under public debate

This month, the Ministry of Justice launched a public debate on a draft order amending and supplementing Order no. 7323/C/2020 approving the procedure for online registration and for approving the fees for accessing the Register of Beneficial Owners kept by the National Trade Register Office.

According to the draft order, access to data on beneficial owners would only be granted to natural or legal persons able to demonstrate a legitimate interest in preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing. This condition would need to be met for each request for information, and failure to do so would result in access being denied. Exceptions would be made in cases where the information is requested directly by the entity concerned or by the beneficial owner.

The proposed introduction of this condition was made in the context of alignment with recent developments in European and national legislation and in light of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which considered that unrestricted public access to such data may constitute disproportionate interference with the right to privacy and the protection of personal data.

Should these amendments be adopted, the way third parties are able to access information on beneficial owners will change substantially.

Source: Draft Order amending and supplementing Order no. 7323/C/2020 approving the procedure for online registration and for approving the fees for accessing the Register of Beneficial Owners kept by the National Trade Register Office.