The Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies (the "Central Register") launched on 29 July 2019.

Irish incorporated companies and certain other legal entities (the "Relevant Entities") are obliged by Part 3 of the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 110 of 2019) (the "2019 Regulations") to file details of their beneficial ownership with the Central Register.

The 2019 Regulations imposed a deadline of 22 November 2019 for Relevant Entities in existence prior to the introduction of the 2019 Regulations to comply with their beneficial ownership reporting obligations.

All affected Relevant Entities must take steps now to ensure that the necessary beneficial ownership information is filed in time via the Central Register's online registration portal - https://rbo.gov.ie/. Paper submissions are not accepted and no fees are charged.

Relevant Entities incorporated on or after 22 June 2019 must file their beneficial ownership information with the Central Register within five months of the date of their incorporation.

Under the 2019 Regulations, it is a criminal offence for a Relevant Entity to fail to provide information on its beneficial ownership to the Central Register.

For further information relating to the requirements of the 2019 Regulations and the functioning of the Central Register, please consult our previous briefings on the topic (available here).

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