We would like to inform you that Cyprus has recently proceeded with the full transposition of the 4th European Directive (EU 2015/849) into domestic law and activated the implementation of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) Register of Companies and other legal entities in Cyprus.
The Registrar of Companies (RoC) and Official Receiver has been authorized as the competent authority to collect information about the UBOs of companies and other legal entities through the intermediate system solution that has been developed.
However, it is important to note that access to the intermediate system is only available to competent authorities, upon request to the RoC. Therefore, the UBO information to be entered into the intermediate system shall not be publicly available.
Procedure and Deadlines:
On 12 March 2021, announcement of the Registrar of Companies (RoC) that the electronic service for the registration of beneficial owner particulars for companies and other legal entities is available as from 16 March 2021 under the section “e-filing services” of the Companies section in the RoC website.
Starting from this date, a period of twelve (12) months is granted to all existing entities to submit their beneficial owners’ information into the system. During the intermediate solution period, no penalties will be imposed for late submissions.
The responsibility for the true and accurate submission of the beneficial owner(s) information lies with the company or other legal entity itself and with its officers.
Definition of Beneficial Owner:
A natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership of 25 % plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25 % in the customer held by a corporate entity, which is under the control of a natural person(s), or by multiple corporate entities.
Newly registered Entities (i.e. registered on or after 16 March 2021), are required to file the required information to the UBO register no later than thirty (30) days from the date of their registration.
Any changes to the beneficial ownership or to the details of an existing beneficial owner(s) need to be submitted to the UBO register within fourteen (14) days from the date of that change.
During the period from 1 to 31 December of each calendar year, every company or other legal entity must confirm electronically to the RoC the information in relation to its UBOs, through the final system solution to be developed.
For further information regarding the operation of the UBO register please refer to the Directive (Κ.Δ.Π. 112/2021) or click here for the PDF file.
The Next Step. What can we do for you? We are at your disposal to provide clarifications on the procedure and related services.
P. Kalopetrides & Co, in the context of its obligations to exercise its duties through the provisions of the Regulation of Business Services and Related Issues Laws of 2012 to 2020. Contact us now: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
