Source: OJ L, 2024/1624, 19.6.2024Current language: EN
- Anti-money laundering
Basic legislative acts
- Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR)
Article 58 Identification of beneficial owners for express trusts and similar legal arrangements
Summary What does Article 58 of the Anti-money laundering regulation (AMLR) say?
This article defines who qualifies as a beneficial owner of an express trust or similar legal arrangement.
It draws on the same beneficial ownership framework established for legal entities elsewhere in the regulation, extending and adapting it to the specific structure of trusts.
The article casts the net wide, capturing not just the obvious parties — settlors, trustees, protectors, and beneficiaries — but also any natural person exercising ultimate control through any means.
It also addresses more complex situations, such as multi-layered structures where a legal entity rather than a natural person occupies one of those key roles, requiring a look-through to the natural persons who are the beneficial owners of that interposed entity.
The article additionally places an obligation on Member States to notify the Commission of trust-like legal arrangements governed under their national law, and grants the Commission power to issue an implementing act formalising a Union-wide list of such arrangements.
Important points:
- Identify as beneficial owners all natural persons in key trust roles — settlors, trustees, protectors, and beneficiaries — as well as anyone exercising ultimate control, directly or indirectly, over the trust.
- Where a legal entity occupies one of those roles within a multi-layered structure, look through it to identify the natural persons who are its beneficial owners.
- Member States are required to notify the Commission by 10 October 2027 of trust-like legal arrangements under their national law, along with a detailed justification for why those arrangements are considered similar to express trusts.
Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.
The beneficial owners of express trusts shall be all the following natural persons:
the settlors;
the trustees;
the protectors, if any;
the beneficiaries, unless Article 59 or 60 applies;
any other natural persons exercising ultimate control over the express trust by means of direct or indirect ownership or by other means, including through a chain of control or ownership.
The beneficial owners of other legal arrangements similar to express trusts shall be the natural persons holding equivalent or similar positions to those referred to in paragraph 1.
Where legal arrangements belong to multi-layered control structures and where any of the positions listed in paragraph 1 is held by a legal entity, the beneficial owners of the legal arrangement shall be:
the natural persons listed in paragraph 1; and
the beneficial owners of the legal entities that occupy any of the positions listed in paragraph 1.
Member States shall notify to the Commission by 10 October 2027 a list of types of legal arrangements similar to express trusts which are governed under their law.
The notification shall be accompanied by a description of:
the form and basic features of those legal arrangements;
the process through which those legal arrangements can be set up;
the process for accessing basic information and beneficial ownership information on those legal arrangements;
the websites at which the central registers containing information on beneficial owners of those legal arrangements can be consulted and the contact details of the entities in charge of those registers.
The notification shall also be accompanied by a justification detailing the reasons why the Member State considers the notified legal arrangements to be similar to express trusts and why it concluded that other legal arrangements governed under its law are not similar to express trusts.
The Commission may adopt, by means of an implementing act, a list of types of legal arrangements governed under the law of Member States which should be subject to the same beneficial ownership transparency requirements as express trusts, accompanied by the information referred to in paragraph 4, second subparagraph of this Article. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 86(2).
Springlex and this text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. No liability is assumed for its content. The authentic version of this act is the one published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Definition
Legal Entity Identifier
Definition
express trust
Definition
legal arrangement
Definition
beneficial owner
Definition
basic information
- in relation to a legal entity:
- legal form and name of the legal entity;
- instrument of constitution, and the statutes if they are contained in a separate instrument;
- address of the registered or official office and, if different, the principal place of business, and the country of creation;
- a list of legal representatives;
- where applicable, a list of shareholders or members, including information on the number of shares held by each shareholder and the categories of those shares and the nature of the associated voting rights;
- where available, the registration number, the European Unique identifier, the tax identification number and the Legal Entity Identifier;
- in the case of foundations, the assets held by the foundation to pursue its purposes;
- in relation to a legal arrangement:
- the name or unique identifier of the legal arrangement;
- the trust deed or equivalent;
- the purposes of the legal arrangement, if any;
- the assets held in the legal arrangement or managed through it;
- the place of residence of the trustees of the express trust or persons holding equivalent positions in the similar legal arrangement, and, if different, the place from where the express trust or similar legal arrangement is administered;