The operation of the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Registry for Cypriot Companies.

The operation of the Ultimate Beneficial Owners Registry for Cypriot Companies.

According to the provisions of new Cyprus legislation adopted in 2021 concerning money laundering, all Cypriot companies are obliged to register the details of their beneficial owners in an electronic register set up by the Registrar of Cyprus (“the Register”).

The Register will be publicly accessible from January 1, 2023 while for the time being it is accessible only to government services.

The ultimate beneficial owner is a person who directly or indirectly controls a company by holding more than 25% of the company’s shares directly or through intermediaries, as well as a person who has the right to otherwise controls the company’s activities.

If the ultimate beneficial owner of a company cannot be determined/if there is no person who meets the beneficial owner criteria, the person holding the senior management position in the company is recognized as such.

Cyprus companies must submit to the Register the following information about the beneficial owners:

· Name, surname, date of birth, nationality, and address.

· The percentage of participation in the company.

· Identity or passport number and country of issue.

· Date of entry of such person’s details as the company’s beneficial owner into the Register.

· Date of changes made to the beneficial owner’s details/date when the person ceased to be a beneficial owner.

In case the beneficial owner of a Cypriot company is a fund, trust or public company, the following information shall be submitted in the Register:

· Name, registration number, country of registration, registered address

· interest and a way of participation in the company’s activities;

· start date of participation

· the date of change or termination of participation.

The companies will have to update the Register in December each year.

It is expected that at some point the Register of beneficial owners will be linked to a European database of beneficial owners of companies in all countries of the European Union.

The deadline for submitting the information of beneficial owners in the register is the 31st of July 2022. (originally it was 12/03/2022).

After the expiration of the above deadline, an administrative fine will be imposed on the company for not submitting the data, which has not yet been determined.

Every company has the obligation to submit data to the Register.

The registration is done through the Ariadne system which is the government portal through government services are provided electronically in Cyprus.

In order to use the Ariadne system, the person must first apply for an account and then identify his details at a Citizen Service Center (CSC).

Methods to enter the data in the register of beneficial owners.

The first method of submitting is the beneficial owner to gain access to the Ariadne system after its identification in CSC in Cyprus and then to register the data.

The second way is to be submit the data by our office as authorized representatives of the company or as company’s directors. In this case, no action is required by your side.