Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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256. To ask the Minister for Finance the assessment that has been carried out by his Department on a recent European Court of Justice ruling, Judgment of the Court in Joined Cases C-37/20, Luxembourg Business Registers and C-601/20, which seems to call into question the principle of a public register of beneficial ownership; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62338/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union is that a provision of the EU anti-money-laundering directive, under which information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities, held in central registers, must be provided to the general public, is invalid. The court has found that the provision interferes with the rights recognised in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Officials from the Department of Finance have engaged with the European Commission and other Member States since this judgement was issued. All relevant Government Departments and agencies are analysing the matter and what actions may need to be taken on foot of same, but in Ireland and in the EU, it is accepted that more time is needed to fully assess the ruling’s implications. Any decisions on this will be informed by further analysis and discussion with EU colleagues in the coming weeks.

Nonetheless, it is the Department of Finance’s assessment that the ruling does not affect access to information by competent authorities or by ‘designated persons’; nor does it affect designated persons’ obligations to conduct customer due diligence.

Arising from the ruling, the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial & Provident Societies (RBO), which operates under the auspices of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, took the decision to suspend all access to the Register. This situation was temporary and was necessary in order to facilitate an IT solution to provide access to the RBO in accordance with the Court ruling. Access has now been restored for competent authorities and designated persons, with only limited information being available to the general public. The Registrar has been communicating directly with key stakeholders on the current situation.

The Central Bank of Ireland has suspended the processing of access requests by the general public to the Beneficial Ownership Register of Certain Financial Vehicles. The Central Bank of Ireland is actively considering the ruling and is fully engaged with the Department of Finance on this matter.

Of relevance also is the new draft EU anti-money laundering legislative package that has been under negotiation between Member States, since its initial publication by the European Commission in July 2021. On 7 December 2022, the Council of the European Union agreed its position on two parts of this package - a new EU Directive and EU Regulation - and published its mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament (the Council had previously agreed its position on the other elements of the draft package). It can be seen from this mandate that the Council proposes provision for access to beneficial ownership information, by the public, should be on the basis of ‘legitimate interest’. Discussion of this draft legislation with the European Parliament will begin in the new year and agreement is expected to be reached in the first half of 2023.