In a judgment of 22 November 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU“) ruled that public access to the beneficial owners register (registre des bénéficiaires effectifs) (the “RBE“) did not comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It considered that the fundamental right to privacy under Article 7 and the protection of personal data under Article 8, were violated. The immediate consequence of this decision was the suspension of the access and consultation of the RBE to the public.
In December of 2022, a technical and legal solution in line with the conditions retained by the CJEU was found. Thus, the professionals referred to in Article 2 of the Law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as amended, can sign an agreement with the Luxembourg Business Registers (the “LBR“) and have access to the RBE once again according to the specific conditions set out in circular LBR 22/01.
Then in February 2023, a new procedure was implemented for all entities registered with the RBE. This new access will be done via a specific code that the LBR will progressively send by mail to each registered entity having declared its beneficial owners to the RBE.
The confidential and personal code of each entity will allow:
- consultation of the data of its beneficial owners registered with the RBE; and
- ordering of an RBE extract concerning the entity.
Here is additional information on the procedure to receive the confidential code: https://www.lbr.lu/mjrcs-lbr/jsp/webapp/static/mjrcs/en/mjrcs-rbe/pdf/Acces_RBE_par_entite_code.pdf