Written answers

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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117. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to establish a national register of the beneficial owners of companies, trusts and foundations here, that will require the names, dates of birth, nationality or jurisdiction of incorporation, contact details, number of shares, categories of shares including the nature of the associated voting rights and proportion of shareholding or control, if applicable, of the beneficial owners of companies; and his plans that such information be publicly available at no cost, and in what format. [27917/14]

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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118. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will progress a register of the beneficial owners of companies, trusts and foundations here, that will require the names, dates of birth, nationality or jurisdiction of incorporation, contact details, number of shares, categories of shares including the nature of the associated voting rights and proportion of shareholding or control before the EU acts by consensus to do so. [27918/14]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 117 and 118 together.

The requirement to obtain and hold information on beneficial ownership stems from the provisions of the proposed 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive which seeks to update the 3rd Directive to take account of the February 2012 revision of the international standards for anti-money requirements and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).  A general council agreement was reached on this file on 18 June 2014 giving Council a mandate to commence negotiations with the European Parliament.

The proposed 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive covers a number of policy areas which come under the responsibility of a range of Departments and Offices. Arising from consultation with the relevant Departments and Offices, Ireland's position in the negotiations has been to support the view that beneficial ownership should be known. Under the current text Member States will be required to ensure the beneficial ownership information on corporate and other legal entities, and trusts is held in a specified location so that it can be accessed in a timely manner.  In fact there are already provisions in place which allow for enforcement authorities and other shareholders to identify beneficial owners of companies when required. Furthermore trusts are subject to robust reporting requirements under current taxation and anti-money laundering legislation.

The new Directive will inter alia require amendment of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 and we await final agreement of the specific provisions in the text with the European Parliament before commencing with the cross-Departmental transposition work.

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