Poland: New Central Register of Beneficial Owners

 

The Republic of Poland has implemented the Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC which has amended an Act on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism as of 1 March 2018.

The aforementioned Act establishes the Central Register of Beneficial Owners, an IT data transmission system used for processing information about beneficial owners of partnerships and companies. The Register will be maintained by the minister responsible for public finance.

Meaning of beneficial  owner

Broadly speaking, the beneficial owner shall be understood as a natural person or natural persons who controls, whether directly or indirectly, a customer through their powers which result from legal or factual circumstances and enable exerting a decisive impact on a customer’s acts or actions, or a natural person or natural persons on whose behalf business relationships are being established or an occasional transaction is being conducted.

According to Article 58 of the aforementioned Act, the following entities shall be obliged to notify information concerning the beneficial owners and update the same:

1. registered partnerships;
2. limited partnerships;
3. limited joint-stock partnerships;
4. limited liability companies;
5. joint-stock companies, exclusive of public companies within the meaning of the Act of 29 July 2005 on Public Offer and the Conditions of Introducing Financial Instruments to the Organized Trading System and on Public Companies (Dziennik Ustaw 2019, item 623)

 

Information required

Article 59 states that the information to be notified to the Register includes:

1)  the following identification data of the partnerships and companies listed in Article 58:

 

2) the following information concerning the beneficial owner and a member of an authority or a partner/shareholder authorized to represent the partnerships/companies listed in Article 58:

a) forename and surname;
b) citizenship;
c) state of residence;
d) PESEL number or the date of birth – in the case of persons not holding a PESEL number; and
e) information on the volume and nature of the share or rights vested in the beneficial owner.

Deadlines

The information referred to in Article 59 shall be notified to the Register within 7 days at the latest from the day of entry of the partnerships and companies listed in Article 58 to the National Court Register, and in the case of any change in the provided information – within 7 days from changing thereof.

The partnerships and companies listed in Article 58 which have been already registered in National Court Register shall notify to the Register the information referred to in Article 59 by 13 April 2020.

The notification to the Register shall be made by the person authorized to represent the partnership/company listed in Article 58.

The notification is free of charge by electronic communication means and shall be submitted in the form of an electronic document, in accordance with the template made available by the minister competent for public finance.

The Register is available to the public.

 

Authors:  Łukasz Kossakowski & Marcin Liszka

 

For further information, contact:

Łukasz Kossakowski, Partner

Kancelaria Dr Dariusz Kossakowski, Warsaw

e: lkossakowski@kossakowski.pl

t: +48 22 829 46 80

 

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