Art. 10 Central beneficial ownership registers | Sixth anti-money laundering (AML 6) directive | AML

This is one of the most substantial articles in the Directive, serving as the primary operational blueprint for how Member States must establish and manage national central beneficial ownership registers.

It builds directly on the beneficial ownership disclosure obligations set out in Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, translating those requirements into concrete infrastructure obligations at the Member State level.

The article covers the full lifecycle of register management: what must be held, by whom, how it must be verified, how discrepancies must be resolved, the enforcement tools available to register entities, sanctions for non-compliance, data retention rules, and the requirement that national registers be interconnected via the European Central Platform.

Notably, it also integrates targeted financial sanctions screening into the register function, requiring entities in charge to actively check and flag whether beneficial owners are subject to such sanctions.

Important points:

Member States are required to establish central registers holding beneficial ownership information in machine-readable format, ensure the information is accurate, adequate, and up-to-date, and interconnect those registers via the European Central Platform.
Entities in charge of central registers are empowered to carry out verifications, including on-site inspections, withhold or suspend proof of registration certificates where information is found to be inconsistent, and impose sanctions for failures to provide accurate information.
Central registers must flag any association with persons or entities subject to targeted financial sanctions, with that indication remaining visible to all authorised users until the sanctions are lifted.

1. Member States shall ensure that beneficial ownership information as referred to in Article62 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, the statement pursuant to Article 63(4) of that Regulation and information on nominee arrangements as referred to in Article 66 of that Regulation are held in a central register in the Member State where the legal entity is created or where the trustee of an express trust or person holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement is established or resides, or from where the legal arrangement is administered. Such requirement shall not apply to legal entities or legal arrangements as referred to in Article 65 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624.
2. The information contained in the central beneficial ownership register referred to in the first subparagraph (‘central register’) shall be available in machine-readable format and be collected in accordance with the implementing acts referred to in paragraph 6.
1. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that beneficial ownership information, as referred to in Article 62 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, of foreign legal entities and foreign legal arrangements, as referred to in Article 67 of that Regulation, is held in a central register in the Member State in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 67 of that Regulation. Member States shall also ensure that the central register contains an indication of which situation listed in Article 67(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 triggers the registration of the foreign legal entity or foreign legal arrangement.
1. Where the trustees of an express trust or persons holding equivalent positions in a similar legal arrangement are established or reside in different Member States, a certificate of proof of registration, or an excerpt of the beneficial ownership information held in a central register by one Member State, shall be sufficient to consider the registration obligation fulfilled.
1. Member States shall ensure that the entities in charge of the central registers are empowered to request from legal entities, trustees of any express trust and persons holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement, and their legal and beneficial owners, any information necessary to identify and verify their beneficial owners, including resolutions of the board of directors and minutes of their meetings, partnership agreements, trust deeds, power of attorney or other contractual agreements and documentation.
1. Where no person is identified as the beneficial owner pursuant to Article 63(3) and Article 64(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, the central register shall include:
  1. a statement that there is no beneficial owner or that the beneficial owners could not be determined, accompanied by a corresponding justification pursuant to Article 63(4), point (a), and Article 64(7), point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624;
  2. the details of all natural persons who hold the position of senior managing officials in the legal entity equivalent to the information required under Article 62(1), second subparagraph, point (a), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624.
2. Member States shall ensure that the information referred to in the first subparagraph, point (a), is available to competent authorities, as well as to AMLA for the purposes of joint analyses pursuant to Article 32 of this Directive and Article 40 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620, to self-regulatory bodies and to obliged entities. However, obliged entities shall only have access to the statement submitted by the legal entity or legal arrangement if they report a discrepancy pursuant to Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 or provide proof of the steps they have taken to determine the beneficial owners of the legal entity or legal arrangement, in which case they shall be able to access the justification as well.
1. By 10 July 2025, the Commission shall establish, by means of implementing acts, the format for the submission of beneficial ownership information as referred to in Article 62 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 to the central register, including a checklist of minimum requirements for the information to be examined by the entity in charge of the central register. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 72(2) of this Directive.
1. Member States shall ensure that the beneficial ownership information held in the central registers is adequate, accurate and up-to-date, and shall put in place mechanisms to that effect. For that purpose, Member States shall apply at least the following requirements:
  1. entities in charge of the central registers shall verify, within a reasonable time upon submission of the beneficial ownership information, and on a regular basis thereafter, that such information is adequate, accurate and up to date;
  2. competent authorities, if appropriate and to the extent that such requirement does not interfere unnecessarily with their functions, shall report to the entities in charge of the central registers any discrepancies they find between information available in the central registers and the information available to them.
2. The extent and frequency of the verification referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be commensurate with the risks associated with the categories of legal entities and legal arrangements identified pursuant to Article 7(3), point (d), and Article 8(4), point (c).
3. By 10 July 2028, the Commission shall issue recommendations on the methods and procedures to be used by entities in charge of central registers to verify beneficial ownership information and by obliged entities and competent authorities to identify and report discrepancies regarding beneficial ownership information.
1. Member States shall ensure that the information contained in the central registers includes any change to the beneficial ownership of legal entities and legal arrangements and to nominee arrangements, following their first recording in the central register.
1. Member States shall ensure that the entities in charge of the central registers verify whether beneficial ownership information held in those registers concerns persons or entities designated in relation to targeted financial sanctions. Such verification shall take place immediately upon a designation in relation to targeted financial sanctions and at regular intervals.
2. Member States shall ensure that the information contained in the central registers includes an indication that the legal entity is associated with persons or entities subject to targeted financial sanctions in any of the following situations:
  1. a legal entity or legal arrangement is subject to targeted financial sanctions;
  2. a legal entity or legal arrangement is controlled by a person or entity subject to targeted financial sanctions;
  3. a beneficial owner of a legal entity or legal arrangement is subject to targeted financial sanctions.
3. The indication referred to in the second subparagraph of this paragraph shall be visible to any person or entity granted access to the information contained in the central registers pursuant to Articles 11 and 12, and shall remain in place until the targeted financial sanctions are lifted.
1. Member States shall ensure that the entities in charge of the central registers take, within 30 working days of the reporting of a discrepancy by a competent authority or by an obliged entity, appropriate actions to resolve the reported discrepancy pursuant to Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, including by amending the information contained in the central registers where the entity is able to verify the beneficial ownership information. A specific mention of the fact that there are discrepancies reported shall be included in the central registers until the discrepancy is resolved and be visible to any person or entity granted access under Articles 11 and 12 of this Directive.
2. Where the discrepancy is of a complex nature and the entities in charge of the central registers cannot resolve it within 30 working days, they shall record the instance as well as the steps that have been taken, and take any measure necessary to resolve the discrepancy as soon as possible.
1. Member States shall ensure that the entity in charge of the central register is empowered, whether directly or by application to another authority, including judicial authorities, to carry out checks, including on-site inspections at the business premises or registered office of legal entities, in order to establish the current beneficial ownership of the entity and to verify that the information submitted to the central register is accurate, adequate and up-to-date. The right of the entity in charge of the central register to verify beneficial ownership information shall not be restricted, obstructed or precluded.
2. Where the trustee or person holding an equivalent position is an obliged entity as referred to in in Article 3, point (3)(a), (b) or (c), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, Member States shall ensure that the entity in charge of the central register is also empowered to carry out checks, including on-site inspections at the business premises or registered office of the trustee or person in an equivalent position. Those checks shall adhere at least to the following safeguards:
  1. with respect to natural persons, where the business premises or registered office are the same as the natural person’s private residence, the on-site inspection shall be subject to prior judicial authorisation;
  2. any procedural safeguard in place in the Member State to protect the legal privilege shall be respected and no information protected by legal privilege shall be accessed.
3. Member States shall ensure that entities in charge of central registers are empowered to request information from other registers, including in third countries, to the extent that that such information is necessary for the performance of such entities’ functions.
1. Member States shall ensure that entities in charge of central registers have at their disposal the automated mechanisms necessary to carry out verifications as referred to in paragraph 7, points (a), and paragraph 9, including by comparing information contained in those registers with information held by other sources.
1. Member States shall ensure that where a verification as referred to in paragraph 7, point (a), is carried out at the time of submission of beneficial ownership information, and such verification leads an entity in charge of a central register to conclude that there are inconsistencies or errors in the beneficial ownership information, the entity in charge of a central register is able to withhold or refuse to issue a valid certificate of proof of registration.
1. Member States shall ensure that where a verification as referred to in paragraph 7, point (a), is carried out after the submission of beneficial ownership information, and such verification leads an entity in charge of a central register to conclude that the information is no longer adequate, accurate, and up-to-date, the entity in charge of the central register is able to suspend the validity of the certification of proof of registration until it considers the beneficial ownership information provided to be in order, except where the inconsistencies are limited to typographical errors, different ways of transliteration, or minor inaccuracies that do not affect the identification of the beneficial owners or their beneficial interest.
1. Member States shall ensure that the entity in charge of the central register is empowered to, whether directly or by application to another authority, including judicial authorities, apply effective, proportionate and dissuasive measures or impose such pecuniary sanctions for failures, including of a repeated nature, to provide the central register with accurate, adequate and up-to-date information about their beneficial ownership.
1. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 71 to supplement this Directive by defining indicators to classify the level of gravity of failures to report adequate, accurate and up-to-date information to the central registers, including in cases of repeated failures.
1. Member States shall ensure that if, in the course of the checks carried out pursuant to this Article, or in any other way, the entities in charge of the central registers discover facts that could be related to money laundering or to terrorist financing, they shall promptly inform the FIU thereof.
1. Member States shall ensure that, in the performance of their tasks, the entities in charge of central registers carry out their functions free of undue influence and that those entities implement standards for their employees as regards conflicts of interest and strict confidentiality.
1. The central registers shall be interconnected via the European Central Platform established by Article 22(1) of Directive (EU) 2017/1132.
1. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be available through the central registers and through the system of interconnection of central registers for 5 years after the legal entity has been dissolved or the legal arrangement has ceased to exist.
2. Without prejudice to national criminal law on evidence applicable to ongoing criminal investigations and legal proceedings, Member States may, in specific cases, permit such information to be retained, or require that such information be retained, for an additional maximum period of 5 years where Member States have established that such retention is necessary and proportionate for the purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting suspected money laundering or terrorist financing.
3. Upon expiry of the retention period referred to in the first subparagraph, Member States shall ensure that the personal data is deleted from the central registers.
1. By 10 July 2031, the Commission shall, publish a report including the following:
  1. an assessment of the effectiveness of the measures taken by the entities in charge of the central registers to ensure that they have adequate, up-to-date and accurate information;
  2. a description of the main types of discrepancies identified by obliged entities and competent authorities in relation to the beneficial ownership information held in the central registers;
  3. best practices and, where appropriate, recommendations with regard to the measures taken by the entities in charge of the central registers to ensure that those registers hold adequate, accurate and up-to-date information;
  4. overview of the features of each central register put in place by Member States, including information on mechanisms to ensure that beneficial ownership information held in those registers is kept accurate, adequate and up to date;
  5. an assessment of the proportionality of the fees imposed for accessing information held in the central registers.