With adopting the new Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (OG no. 108/2017, 39/2019), the European regulation for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (4th and 5th AML Directives) has been implemented in the national legislation. The Regulation introduces an obligation of establishing a Register of Beneficial Owners.
The Ordinance on the Register of Beneficial Owners (OG no. 53/2019) was published on 24 May 2019 and prescribes the procedure and deadlines of providing data on beneficial owners to be included in the Register of Beneficial Owners. The Financial Agency (FINA) maintains the Register.
- Which entities need to provide data for the Register of beneficial owners?
- Which data will need to be gathered?
- What are the deadlines for entering the data into the Register of beneficial owners?
- Who will have access to the information?
- What are the prescribed penalties?
- Updating the beneficial ownership information
Which entities need to provide data for the Register of beneficial owners?
The registration obligation relates to companies, branches of foreign companies, associations, foundations and institutions where the Republic of Croatia or local/regional unit of self-government is not their only founder.
Institutions of which the Republic of Croatia or local/regional unit of self-government is the only founder are not required to register data on the beneficial owner.
Companies listed on stock exchanges are not required to provide data on beneficial owners for the Register. Such companies should only provide information on which stock exchange they are listed and since when and whether their shares are issued to bearers.
Data on the persons authorised to represent associations, who will be considered as the beneficial owners of the associations, will be taken over from the PIN system. Changes and updates of the provided data will be made by the persons authorised to represent the association.
Which data will need to be gathered?
Data on the beneficial owners must be accurate, up-to-date, and adequate. The following data should be gathered: name and surname, country of residence, date of birth, citizenship/citizenships, identification number or data on the type, number, issuer, country and the validity date of the identification document, data on the nature and extent of the beneficial ownership.
Please note that the identification of beneficial owners, collection of data and completion of the registration forms are on a case-by-case basis, especially in the case of complex ownership structures. Therefore, our recommendation is to start collecting the data on time.
What are the deadlines for entering the data into the Register of beneficial owners?
A legal entity or trustee should update the data within 30 days following the date of change of the previously entered data in the Register.
Who will have access to the information?
Most of the data on beneficial owners will be available to the public, except for the data on the identification number or the data about the type, number, issuer, country and validity date of the identification document, which will be available only to competent state authorities.
Access to data or part of data on the beneficial owner of a legal entity is restricted if the access to such data would expose the beneficial owner to a disproportionate risk, risk of fraud, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, abuse, violence or intimidation or if the beneficial owner is a juvenile or has been deprived of their business capacity.
In these cases, a legal entity or a public body may file a clarified and substantiated request to restrict access to the data on the beneficial owner.
What are the prescribed penalties?
For a legal entity that did not file relevant, accurate and updated data on its beneficial owner in the Register of Beneficial Owners and in the manner and within the deadlines prescribed by the Ordinance, the fine ranges from 5,000.00 - 350,000.00 HRK.
A fine in the amount of 5,000.00 - HRK 75,000.00 HRK is prescribed for a Member of Management Board or other responsible natural person of the legal entity.
Updating the beneficial ownership information
The Ordinance on the Register of Beneficial Owners lays down the obligation to update the information entered into the Register of Beneficial Owners within 30 days from the date of change to the information previously entered into the Register of Beneficial Owners, as follows:
- Limited liability companies, simple limited liability companies, limited partnerships,general partnerships, economic interest groupings, branches of foreign companies or institutions shall update the information referred to in Articles 4 and 8 of the Ordinance
- Joint-stock companies shall update the information referred to in Articles 5 and 9 of the Ordinance.
- Associations, foundations or trusts shall update the information referred to in Articles 6 and 8 of the Ordinance.
- Trustees shall update the information referred to in Articles 7 and 8 of the Ordinance.
How can we help you?
We can assist you in the process of collecting data and identifying the beneficial owner and submitting the application to the Register of beneficial owners, as well as in preparing requests for restriction of access to data on the beneficial owner. Furthermore, we can also assist you in the process of updating information in the Register.
For detailed information and assistance please contact our AML regulatory compliance expert Dubravka Lukovecki, Marija Perak or Dženet Garibović.
