Beneficiary Owner, anti money laundering law now approved. Vision Consulting Albania is delighted to introduce you with some of the main changes brought by the new law on beneficiary owners registration, law no.112/2020.
Who can be a beneficiary owner and what is the purpose of the register of beneficiary owners?
The beneficiary owner is:
The individual who owns or ultimately controls the entity, in this case the entity is the legal entity registered in the Republic of Albania, and / or the individual in whose name a transaction or activity is being performed. Beneficiary owners include individuals who own or ultimately control a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership, respectively the holding by one or one or more individuals separately or together of 25% or more of the shares / capital quotes or ownership interests in a company.
The founder or legal representative or the individual who exercises the last effective control in the administration and control of non-profit organizations, including foundations, associations, centers and branches of NGOs. The last effective control is the relationship in which a person determines the decisions taken by the non-profit organization and controls in any way the election, appointment and removal of the majority of decision-making bodies and / or executive bodies of NGOs.
In the case of a trust or other legal agreement, the beneficial owner is the creator of the trust, the custodian / trustee, the guardian, if any, and the beneficiaries, or when the persons benefiting from the legal agreement or entity have not yet been determined, the persons for whose primary interest the legal arrangement or entity is established or operates; any other individual exercising ultimate control over the trust through direct or indirect ownership or other means.
The register of beneficiary owners is a state electronic database where the data of the beneficiary owners of the entities that have the obligation to report them are registered.
Who should be registered?
The obligation is specifically for:
- limited liability companies;
- joint stock companies;
- collective societies;
- limited partnerships;
- representative offices and branches of foreign companies;
- savings and loan associations and their unions;
- mutual cooperation societies;
- agricultural cooperatives;
- any other legal entity, which by law is obliged to register with the NBC;
non-profit organizations, including foundations, associations, centers, as well as branches of foreign non-profit organizations, registered in the register of non-profit organizations in the Republic of Albania; - legal entities and enterprises, whose shareholders, in addition to the central and / or local institutions of the Republic of Albania, are also other Albanian and / or foreign individuals / legal entities.
From the scope of application of this law are excluded the commercial natural persons registered in the commercial register, legal entities and enterprises in which the sole shareholders are central and / or local institutions, political parties and religious communities.
Deadlines for registration
- In case of the initial registration of the beneficiary owners, the registration must be completed within 30 calendar days from the date of registration of the reporting entities.
- In the case of registration of changes in the data of the beneficiary owners of the reporting entities, the registration must be completed within 90 days from the date of occurrence of the factual change.
- Existing reporting entities must register the data required by law for their beneficiary owners by 30 June 2021.
Responsible institution
The institution responsible for the administration of the register for the registration of the beneficiary owners is the National Registration Center
Penalties
- Reporting entities and persons authorized to make the registration are responsible according to applicable laws on the veracity of facts, notified data and documents
accompanying, deposited in the electronic register.
a) initial non-registration of data for its beneficiary owner (within 30 calendar days from the date of registration of reporting entities, in the case of initial registration of beneficiary owners) is punishable by a fine in the amount of 500,000 (five hundred thousand) ALL;
b) non-registration of any change in the registered data and accompanying documents, which are deposited in the register, (within 30 days from the date of occurrence of the actual change, in the case of registration of changes in the data of beneficial owners of reporting entities) is punished with a fine in the amount of 250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand) ALL;
c) non-fulfillment of the obligation of the existing reporting subjects for the registration of the data required by this law within (60 calendar days from the creation of the register) is punished with a fine in the amount of 250 000 (two hundred and fifty thousand) ALL.
2. For the above violations is punished with a fine of 150 000 (one hundred and fifty thousand) ALL also the legal representative of the registered subject, legal entity.
3. For the subjects that commit the violations foreseen in letters “a” and “b”, the initial non-registration and non-registration of changes in the registered data, for more than once, the fines will be doubled.
Attention!
Every reporting entity, commercial legal entity or NGO, regardless of its status (active, suspended, in liquidation) has the obligation to register the beneficiary owner
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We look forward to being a valuable assistance to you!
*The information contained in this publication is provided for general information purposes only and does not contain a comprehensive analysis. Before taking any action or decision, readers should seek professional advice.
No liability is accepted for acts or omissions taken in reliance upon this information.
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