Crown Dependencies delay public registers of beneficial ownership due to CJEU privacy ruling

The announcement of the decision to delay public access has been made by the Crown Dependencies on the 22nd of December, 2022.

The authorities in Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man have jointly announced that the public access to the registers of the beneficial owners of the local companies is delaying due to the recent the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU’s) decision in cases C-37/20 and C-601/20 in November 2022.

The jurisdictions jointly underlined that they are committed to obtain a legal advise on this matter, after the decision of the CJEU was pronounced. So far, they confirm their intentions to open the registers to the public eventually, but the current situation requires additional legal analysis.

The Crown Dependencies had taken an obligation to open their companies’ beneficial ownership registers in 2023, after the 5th AMLD’s adoption in the EU and the respective legislation in the UK.

Below is the direct speech from the statement:

‘We have all committed to provide access to obliged entities for the purpose of conducting customer due diligence by the end of 2022 and have therefore consulted on the position and produced policy positions’, says in the joint statement.

‘However, in light of this CJEU judgment, implementation of this legislation will be delayed for a short period to enable consideration of its impact and obtain specialist legal advice…Subject to that advice, our intention is to adopt legislation in our respective jurisdictions as soon as possible after this time. In respect of extending access beyond obliged entities, we intend to obtain expert legal advice on all relevant issues and, in due course, intend to review the public commitment in line with that advice and any recent development of international best practice.’

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