Who are the real beneficiaries of your business?
Declare them by March 12, 2022
The Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry is conducting an information campaign inviting all companies or other legal entities registered with the Registrar of Companies, to proceed with the registration of beneficial ownership details in the Register of Beneficial Owners within the timeframe set, which expires on March 12, 2022.
In addition to the information campaign currently running in the media, the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property Department has, since last November, sent a letter to all companies or other legal entities that have an obligation to register beneficial owners' details in the Register, informing them in detail of the procedure to follow and, in general, of their obligations under the legislation. A series of workshops and meetings have also been held to inform the business community about the beneficial owner register.
The beneficial owner register is an important tool offered by the European Union to Member States aimed at transparency and preventing and combating the use of companies for money laundering and terrorist financing.
A beneficial owner is any natural person who actually owns or controls a legal entity, With respect to legal entities a beneficial owner is:
- A natural person who has ultimate ownership or control of a legal entity, directly or indirectly, of a sufficient percentage of the shares or voting rights or ownership of that legal entity, including through shares in the bearer or through control by other means than a listed company on a regulated market.
- (a) An indication of direct ownership is a 25% plus one share or ownership interest of more than 25% in the client held by a natural person, and (b) An indication of indirect ownership is a 25% plus one share or ownership interest of more than 25% in the client held by a legal entity controlled by a natural person or persons or by several legal entities controlled by the same natural person or persons.
- The natural person who holds a position of senior management where there is doubt that the identified person is the beneficial owner.
The process of submitting beneficial owner data to the Registry is done either by creating a profile of the company or cooperative itself in the government portal "Ariadni", and identifying him/her by physical presence at the CEC, CEPO and the Department of Registrar of Companies or at the Provincial Offices of the Ministry of Energy, or through the certified profile of the natural person in "Ariadni", for the company/cooperative to which he/she is appointed.
All information on the Register of Beneficial Owners on the website of the Companies Branch: www.companies.gov.cy
Here you can watch the video which is shown as part of the awareness campaign: https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K-9TPexHhA
(MB/SX)
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