On the 16th of December 2020, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus, on the basis of Article 57(b) of the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law of 2007-2019, decided on the appointment of the Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry as the responsible authority for maintaining the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and other Legal Entities in Cyprus.

The Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver was also granted authority for the collection and preservation of details and other information concerning the Ultimate Beneficial Owners of companies and other legal entities by use of the system of intermediate solution that has been established.

The Registrar of Companies has set the date for beginning data collection for companies and other legal entities to be the 18th of January 2021. Companies will have until the 19th of July 2021 (i.e. a period of 6 months) to submit the necessary information concerning the Ultimate Beneficial Owners of their legal entities.

It should be highlighted that the current submission method is only an intermediate solution and that the system will only be accessible by the competent authorities, upon application to the Registrar of Companies.

The provisions of the 5th European Directive (EU 2018/843) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018, concerning the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, will be the basis for the access to the final system solution that will be established in the second half of 2021 and will contain all the information that will be transferred from the intermediate solution system.

All Cyprus Legal Entities are requested to initiate collection of all details and information according to the provisions of article 61(a) of the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law 2007, as amended.

Our legal professionals can provide you with any further clarifications that you may require. For more information you may contact us.