S.L. 386.19 Art. 7Access to information on beneficial owners. 

(1) The information on the beneficial owners of a company held by the Registrar in the register of beneficial owners shall, in accordance with data protection requirements, be accessible:

(a) in an immediate, unfiltered, direct, and free manner, without any restriction, and without alerting the company concerned to:

(i) the competent authorities and any other national authority, agency or body with designated responsibilities for combating money laundering and terrorist financing;

(ii) the self-regulatory bodies in the performance of supervisory functions pursuant to Article 37 of the Directive;

(iii) the tax authorities;

(iv) the national competent authorities with designated responsibilities for the implementation of restrictive measures identified under the relevant Council Regulations adopted on the basis of Article 215 of the (REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS)

Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU);

(v) the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) for the purposes of joint analyses pursuant to Article 32 of the Directive and Article 40 of the Regulation;

(vi) the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO);

(vii) the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF);

(viiii) the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) when providing operational support to the competent authorities of Member States; and

(b) in a timely manner to obliged entities, for the purpose of carrying out customer due diligence in accordance with Chapter III of the Regulation:

Provided that obliged entities shall access such information as held on the register of beneficial owners upon the payment of a fee, which fee shall be exclusively linked to the administrative costs for the quality of the information and of making the information available:

Provided further that for this purpose, the Registrar may publish guidelines specifying the documentation required to support a request for information held in the register of beneficial owners, as well as the procedure for making such requests and any other applicable conditions;

(c) any natural or legal person who is specifically referred to hereunder as having a legitimate interest, or who is otherwise able to prove to the full satisfaction of the Registrar that he has a legitimate interest, in the prevention and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences, or the financing of terrorism, shall be granted access by the Registrar to information on the beneficial ownership of the company, without alerting the company concerned:

Provided that persons demonstrating a legitimate interest shall be granted access to the name, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality or nationalities of the beneficial owner, and to the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held. Such information on the beneficial owner shall be subject to the payment of a fee, which fee shall be exclusively linked to the administrative costs of ensuring the quality of the information and of making the information available:

Provided further that persons referred to in this paragraph shall together with a written request, submit to the Registrar:

(i) identification details and any other information supported by documents, certified as authentic, identifying the person requesting information, from the register of beneficial owners;

(ii) a declaration of the legal basis of their request to confirm that the purpose of the enquiry relates to matters which shall contribute to the prevention, detection and combating of money laundering or the associated predicate offences or the financing of terrorism;

(iii) any other document which the Registrar may deem necessary:

Provided further that for the purpose of this paragraph, the following natural or legal persons shall be deemed to have a legitimate interest to access beneficial ownership information:

(i) persons acting for the purpose of journalism, reporting or any other form of expression in the media, where such activity is connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;

(ii) civil society organisations, including non-governmental organisations and academia, where such activity is connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;

(iii) persons likely to enter into a transaction with a legal person and who intend to prevent any link between such a transaction and money laundering, its predicate offences or the financing of terrorism;

(iv) any person subject to AML/CFT requirements in third country counterparts, provided that it may be demonstrated that the need to access the beneficial ownership information referred to in this sub-regulation relates to a legal person for which it is required to perform customer due diligence in respect of a customer or prospective customer pursuant to AML/ CFT requirements in those third countries; (REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS)

(v) third country counterparts of Union AML/ CFT competent authorities, provided that the need to access information on the beneficial ownership may be demonstrated in relation to the company for the purpose of fulfilling the obligations under the AML/CFT frameworks of the third country counterparts in the context of a specific case and provided further that such requests shall be made through the relevant counterparts in Malta;

(vi) Member State authorities responsible for the registration of commercial partnerships and, or responsible for implementing national company law, as well as Member State authorities responsible for scrutinising the legality of conversions, mergers and divisions of limited liability companies;

(vii) programme authorities pursuant to Article 71 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy, in respect of beneficiaries of funds under national eligibility rules or other specific regulations as applicable;

(viii) public authorities implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility as established under Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility in respect of beneficiaries under the said Facility;

(ix) the Office of the Director of Contracts established in accordance with the Public Procurement

Regulations in Malta and Member States’ public authorities, in respect of the tenderers and operators being awarded the contract under the public procurement procedure;

(x) providers of AML/CFT products, to the strict extent that products developed on the basis of the information referred to in this sub-regulation or containing such information are provided only to customers that are obliged entities or competent authorities where, and for as long as, those providers require the information in relation to a contract with an obliged entity or competent authority:

Provided further that for this purpose, in relation to the register of beneficial owners the Registrar may publish guidelines specifying the documentation required to support such request for information held in the register of beneficial owners as well as the procedure for making such requests and other applicable conditions:

Provided further that the Registrar may, in the process of verifying the existence of the legitimate interest referred to in paragraph (c), consult with other bodies before granting access to information on the beneficial ownership of a company.

(2) Where the information on the beneficial ownership of a company is sought by persons referred to in the sub-paragraphs (i), (ii) or (v) to the third proviso of paragraph (c) of sub-regulation (1), access shall also include the historical information on the beneficial ownership of the company and a description of the control or ownership structure, including of those companies that have been dissolved or ceased to exist in the preceding five (5) years.

(3) Obliged entities shall not rely exclusively on the register of beneficial owners to fulfil their customer due diligence obligations.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, including the Professional Secrecy Act and Data Protection Act and any applicable regulations made thereunder, the Registrar shall be permitted in pursuance of his functions in accordance with the applicable law, to provide the information about the beneficial owners to the competent authorities and to do so in a timely manner and free of charge:

Provided that the Registrar shall also share information with other bodies outside Malta, that are in charge of the register of beneficial owners, with which Malta has an arrangement, for the purposes of the prevention and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences, or the financing of terrorism.