31/01/20

NETHERLANDS: Public Register Delayed.

As published on internationalinvestment.net, Friday January 31, 2020.

The register of ultimate beneficial owners in the Netherlands set to be introduced in January 2020 has been postponed.

On 10 December 2019, the Dutch parliament's Lower House adopted the Bill, with the intention that implementation would begin on 10 January 2020.

However, the Upper House then decided to delay implementation until it had conducted a 'preparatory investigation' of the Bill. It is not yet clear when the Upper House will be ready to vote on the Bill, but implementation of the register is now not expected until the end of the first quarter of 2020, according to law firm Taylor Wessing.

Under the original Bill, each corporate or other entity incorporated or founded in the Netherlands must obtain and register information on the persons who ultimately own or control them.

The register will be part of the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce. Some of the beneficial ownership information will be publicly available. Once the register is in place, businesses will have 18 months to register their UBOs.

The beneficial ownership register is based on European rules aiming to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.