The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has responded to a request for feedback on a legislative document, arguing that the database of beneficial owners of companies should remain immediately accessible, even though the Ministry of Finance is hoping to limit the public availability of the data and to set out new penalties for companies which fail to submit data about their beneficial owners.
The chamber asked the ministry to ensure that relevant persons continue to have immediate access to data on beneficial owners and, more broadly, to reconsider the proportionality of the proposed sanctions for noncompliance.
The document of legislative intent relates to proposed amendments to the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, including a plan to restrict public access to data about beneficial owners. The plan is to allow access to 30 days to persons who have the right to do so – people licensed by the Financial Intelligence Unit, notaries, attorneys, bankruptcy trustees and sworn auditors. Such people, as well as representatives of the civil society, journalists and other persons with legitimate interests would be able to access to the data after submitting an application to the Tartu County Court Registry Department in which they demonstrate the legitimacy of their request.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry argues that the plan to restrict data access requires further analysis and consideration so as to prevent any excessive administrative burdens on businesses. The document of legislative intent suggests that only people with access rights such as attorneys and notaries, would have access to data about beneficial owners, whilst separate sub-accounts would have to be created for support staff who work in offices and need data verification on a daily basis. The chamber adds that it is not clear who would be responsible for establishing such sub-accounts. It has proposed to the ministry that persons with access rights be allowed to submit a list of employees who should also be granted access to the data.
“Additionally, we are calling for a system of collaboration with target groups which will ensure that all obliged entities and entities with legitimate interest can immediately access the beneficial ownership data,” the Chamber of Commerce declared on its website. Real estate agents, for instance, are required by law to engage in due diligence when concluding transactions, not least in terms of identifying actual beneficial owners. At this time, the Commercial Register offers anyone a chance to view the names of actual beneficial owners free of charge and instantly. The new system would no longer allow real estate agents to carry out their legal obligations instantly in future.
Source: BNS
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