How to declare a beneficial owner

Within the meaning of the Act no. 1.362 of 3 August 2009 pertaining to the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and corruption, amended,  the beneficial owners must be entered in the register entitled "Register of Beneficial Owners", annexed to the Trade and Industry Register:

The following legal persons and entities are required to declare their beneficial owners:

• Commercial companies and economic interest groups that are registered in the Trade and Industry Register
• Non-trading companies that are registered in the special register held by the Trade and Industry Register service

We call beneficial owner(s) the natural person or persons who meet one of the following conditions:

• They are the ultimate owners, directly or indirectly, of at least 25% of the capital or voting rights of the company
• They exercise effective control of the company by any other means (for example: they can appoint or dismiss the majority of the members of the executive bodies)

If none of these criteria are met, they are the person(s) who legally represent the company (manager, managing director, etc.).

Please note: When the legal representative is a company, the beneficial owner(s) is (are) the natural person or persons who legally represent this company.

To improve understanding of the concept of beneficial owner and to help identify them, the Business Development Agency has produced a practical guide which can be downloaded below:

This document outlines and clarifies the main types of beneficial owner and provides several examples of varying degrees of complexity in terms of structures and types of holding.

In March 2023, the FATF updated its guidelines on the beneficial ownership of legal entities, which can be downloaded below:

To get this form you can either:

• Download it here: 
  PDF710.8 kB

  Formulaire Bénéficiaire Effectif B1 (01.09.23)
• Collect it from the Business Development Agency

The declaration must be duly completed and signed by the person making the declaration. The original copy is sent to the Business Development Agency by the person making the declaration or by a representative with a special power of attorney, the original of which should be attached to the declaration. Declarations which are not duly completed and/or are not accompanied by the supporting documents required to establish the accuracy of the declarations will not be accepted.

Declarations must be submitted:

• When applying for registration with the RCI or at the latest within 15 days of delivery of the receipt
• Within 30 days of any fact or action requiring the rectification of, or addition to, the information mentioned therein

To avoid being rejected, declarations must be accompanied by:

• For residents, a copy of the front and back of a national identity card or valid residence permit belonging to the beneficial owner
• For non-residents: a copy of the front and back of a national identity card belonging to the beneficial owner, a copy of proof of address, if the address is different
• If required, an original copy of the special power of attorney
• Supporting documents such as those listed below

N.B. : the following list is not exhaustive and is provided as an indication to guide you as to which documents may be considered as supporting documents:

• Articles of association
• Attendance sheet showing the company’s shareholders
• Share transfer deed
• Minutes
• Up-to-date extract dated within the last three months

To facilitate processing of the application, you are advised to send a diagram illustrating ownership structure in complex identification cases.

Documents in a foreign language must be accompanied by a translation into French