REGISTER OF ULTIMATE BENEFICIAL OWNERS - DEADLINE EXTENSION

04 March 2022

Please be informed that the deadline for the below procedure has been extended until 31 July, 2021.

*****************************************************************************************

We kindly remind you that the submission of information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners, is mandatory for all companies and other legal entities. In case of non-submission of information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners until 12.03.22, the companies will be imposed serious penalties.

********************************************************************************************

We would like to inform you of the commencement of operation of the Register of ultimate beneficial owners of companies (“the Register”) and submission of information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners to the Registrar of Companies through the Companies’ Department website.

The Register commenced its operation on 16/03/2021. On 12/03/2021, by the Administrative Action number 112/2021 published at the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus, the Directive of the Registrar of Companies was published («Directive on Preventing and Combating Legalization of Proceeds from Illegal Activities (Ultimate Beneficial Owners of Companies and other legal entities Register) of 2021») and issued pursuant to the provisions of section 61Α of the Law on Preventing and Combating Legalization of Proceeds from Illegal Activities as well for the purposes of harmonization with EU Directive 2018/843 of the European Parliament and Council dated 30/05/2018, which provides information concerning the operation of the Register.

The Directive applies to all Companies or other legal entities registered with the Registrar of Companies. All companies have a dateline to enter The Register until 15 March 2022.

For more information, you may refer to the below link:

https://www.companies.gov.cy/en/knowledgebase/faq-s-ubo-s

We would also like to inform you regarding the procedure that each entity will have to follow, in order to be able to submit on behalf of you the information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners, to the central register of Beneficial Owners:

  1. Each company will have to create a separate profile/account in the Cyprus Government Portal  “Ariadne”
  2. In order to do so, each company must first create a dedicated company e-mail account
  3. As soon as the profile/account in “Ariadne” is created, it will have to be approved through the Cyprus Citizens' Centres. An appointment will have to be booked with the Cyprus Citizens' Centres upon their availability
  4. Once the above steps are completed, the information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners can be submitted through the “Ariadne” portal.

The new simplified procedure additionally enables the registration of the details of the beneficial owners by the officials or the partners (natural or legal persons) of a legal entity. Therefore, officials or partners of legal entities, provided that they have an identified profile in "Ariadne", can proceed to the registration of beneficial owners for all companies or cooperatives in which they hold the role of official or partner. In addition, for the first time, it is possible to create a cooperative profile for the purpose of registering, through it, the data of the beneficiaries.