The Fourth and Fifth Money Laundering Directives require Member States to maintain registers recording the beneficial owners of companies and trusts. Companies and trustees are required to register information about their beneficial owners with the Companies Registration Office (the CRO’) (in the case of companies) and the Revenue Commissioners (the ‘RC’) (in the case of trusts).
Ultimately, the requirement to gather and register beneficial ownership information rests with the entity (the trust or the company) to whom a solicitor provides legal services. To simplify this complex subject, the Law Society developed an interactive one-page Infographic which visualised the incremental process required to establish registers of beneficial ownership in Ireland.
Companies
The central/national register of beneficial owners of companies was established on 29 July 2019. While solicitors cannot incorporate, those wishing to learn more about the register, in terms of the advice they might provide client companies, will find helpful links to CRO resources and contact details in the Infographic. The Society’s Business Law Committee has also made a submission to the CRO. Here is a link to the Central Register of Beneficial Interest of Companies: RBO
Trusts
A central/national register of beneficial owners of trusts (CRBOT) was established by the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Trusts) Regulations 2021 (SI No. 194 of 2021).
The Revenue Commissioners have also produced a FAQ document on the CRBOT.
Trust and company services Memorandum of Understanding
The Jan/Feb 2016 Law Society practice note launched the Department of Justice and Equality memorandum of understanding (MOU) about:
- trust and company legal services, and
- trust and company service providers (TCSPs).
The purpose of the MOU is to clarify the division of responsibilities regarding which competent authority is responsible for (a) trust and company legal services and (b) TCSPs. The MOU does not introduce any new regulatory obligations for solicitors or new monitoring obligations for the Law Society and does not amend the Law Society’s Guidance Notes for Solicitors on Anti-Money Laundering Obligations.
Solicitors can learn more about how the Law Society fulfils its obligations as a competent authority below:
