Komunikim- Shtypi
NOTIFICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS
NOTIFICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS – NEW DECISION ABOUT DOCUMENTS AND PROCEDURES APPROVED
In the Official Gazette no. 233, dated 30.12.2020 was published the Decision of the Council of Ministers no. 1088 dated 24.12.2020 "On determining the methods and procedures of registration and publication of data on beneficiary owners, as well as notification by the competent state authorities and obligated entities."
According to this decision, the application for initial registration and / or for updating or changing the data for beneficiary owners is made by the person authorized to represent the reporting entity through the electronic portal of e-Albania.
Deadlines for the registration of the beneficial owners
Once the Beneficial Owners’ Registry is established, the reporting entities which are registered with the Commercial Register or NGOs Register before or on 31 January 2021 must register the requested data under the Law not later than 60 days from the Registry’s establishment date.
The reporting entities which will be registered with the Commercial Register or NGOs Register after 31 January 2021 must register their beneficial owners in the Beneficial Owners’ Registry within the following deadlines:
a) Within 30 calendar days from the registration date of the reporting entity with the respective registry, in case of initial registration of beneficial owners;
b) Within 30 days from the date of factual change, in case of registration of changes to beneficial owners data of reporting entities.
Failure to comply with the obligation of registering the beneficial owners
The subjects/entities that fails to comply with the legal obligations may be liable of following sanction:
§ Noncompliance with the obligation of the existing reporting entities for the registration of the beneficial owners is subject to a fine of 250.000 (two hundred fifty thousand) ALL;
§ Noncompliance with the obligation of the reporting entities founded after the creation of the register is subject to a fine of 500.000 (five hundred thousand) ALL;
§ Failure to register changes of the registered information is subject to a fine of 250.000 (two hundred fifty thousand) ALL.
Meanwhile, in case of failure to comply with the legal obligation to maintain information and documents regarding the beneficial owners is punished with a fine in the amount of 50.000 (fifty thousand) ALL also the legal representative of subject.
Documents required to be presented before the Register
In the Paragraph III of the Decision No. 1088 are listed the documents required and the procedures that should be followed. Here below we invite you to find the main documents required for the initial registration as follows:
1. Documentation certifying the unique identification number and the name of the entity and also the date of registration of the entity in the register.
2. Documentation certifying the identification data of the last beneficiary such as:
a. Name and surname;
b. Personal identification number;
c. Date of birth
d. Passport number and country of issue;
e. Date of issue and expiry date of the passport;
f. Citizenship;
g. Permanent residence address
3. Documentation from the competent registration authority, certifying that the registered beneficial owner owns 25 (twenty-five) % or more of the shares / stakes in the capital, voting rights or equity interests and also the date on which the beneficiary obtained their ownership in the company/nonprofit organization/judicial person.
In the event that, after the exhaustion of all possible means to identify the beneficiary and if from the above-mentioned documents it is not possible to identify as the beneficial owner a natural person who has direct or indirect ownership equal to or greater than 25 (twenty-five) % then Albanian entities/NGO-s/companies must identify and register in the Register of Beneficial Owners, as beneficiary, the natural person who:
a. Determines the decisions taken in the company/nonprofit organization/judicial person;
b. Controls in any way the election, appointment and revocation of most of the deliberative and / or executive bodies of the company/nonprofit organization/judicial person.
If it is not possible to identify even the natural person in this case than the company will need to identify the legal representative as the ultimate beneficiary (for this case there are additional requirements).
In both scenarios above mentioned, in addition to the documents listed above, the company/nonprofit organization/judicial person must keep all the documentation that justifies and validates the actions taken by the company/ NGO/judicial person to identify the ultimate beneficiary. Moreover a written declaration signed by the legal representatives of the entity must also be submitted. In the Declaration must be specified the measures adopted to identify the beneficial owner and the reasons of the appointment of any person.
Please note that all the documentation mentioned above must be issued within the last 30 days from the moment the registration request is submitted here in Albania. Foreign documents must be provided with the Apostille Stamp while the translation of the documents will be done in Albania.
We remain at your fullest disposability for any further legal consultancy and assistance in this regards.
With best regards,
LPA Law Firm Team
