Newsletter – Restriction of access to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners – judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU.
In our October 2019 Newsletter, we mentioned the entry into force of the provisions of the Act on counteracting money laundering and financing of terrorism regarding the creation of the Central Register of Beneficial Owners and the obligation to register beneficiaries of commercial companies in the register.
So far, anyone interested has had access to CRBR, but this may change after the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of November 22, 2022 in joined cases C-37/20 | Luxembourg Business Registers and C-601/20.
The CJEU judgment concerned the case of two companies registered in Luxembourg, which demanded the restriction of access to data on their beneficial owners, arguing that open, unrestricted access to such information exposes them to a disproportionate risk of kidnapping related to, for example, kidnapping, blackmail or intimidation.