Public Access To Information Entered In The Register Of Beneficial Owners

• Published date: 28 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Government, Public Sector, Corporate and Company Law, Contracts and Commercial Law, Terrorism, Homeland Security & Defence, Money Laundering
• Law Firm: Soulier Avocats
• Author: Ms Florence Grangerat

Since April 2021, some information relating to the beneficial owner(s) of unlisted companies and legal entities incorporated in France is now freely accessible via the website "DATA INPI" managed by the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (French National Institute of Industrial Property, commonly known by the acronym "INPI").

This information includes: The identity, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality of the beneficial owners, as well as the nature and extent of the beneficial interests they hold in the relevant company or legal entity.

Since 2017, unlisted companies and legal entities required to be incorporated with the Register of Trade and Companies and headquartered on the French territory have the obligation to disclose their beneficial owner(s) to the clerk of the Commercial Court.

It should be recalled that Ordinance n'2016-1635 of December 1, 2016 on the strengthening of the French system for the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which transposed Article 30 of Directive 2015/849/EU, created a register of the beneficial owners of legal entities that records identification data on their beneficial owner(s), his/her/their place of residence as well as the way in which he/she/they exercise(s) control over the relevant company or entity.¹

"Beneficial owner (s)" is defined in Article R.561-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code as follows: "Natural person(s) who either hold, directly or indirectly, more than 25 percent of the share capital or voting rights of the company, or who exercise, by any other means, a power of control over the corporation within the meaning of Article L. 233-3 I '3 and '4 of the French Commercial Code".

The information on beneficial owners that must be disclosed to the clerk of the Commercial Court are as follows²:

• Corporate name or trade name of the company, its legal form the address of its registered office and its unique identification number;
• Identity (name, name used, pseudonym, first names), date and place of birth, nationality, personal address of the natural person(s);

• Date on which the natural person(s) became beneficial owner(s) of the relevant company or legal entity.

Until now, the register of beneficial owners was not intended to be available to the public. Indeed, Article L.561-46 '3 of the French Monetary and Financial Code provided, in its initial wording derived from the aforementioned Ordinance No. 2016-1635 of December 1, 2016, or...