16 junio 2023 Guido Portier  -  Marleen Wessel  -  Christy Wils Data Privacy - Risk and Compliance

Amending act restricted access Dutch UBO register published

On 22 November 2022, the EU Court of Justice ruled that unrestricted public access to the UBO register violates privacy and personal data protection rights of UBOs. Since the ruling access to the information recorded in the Dutch UBO register was suspended.

On 30 May 2023, a draft of the amending act regarding restricted access to the UBO register (the “UBO Access Act”) was published. The objective of the UBO Access Act is to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the privacy and personal data of UBOs, by only allowing access to the UBO register to the following four categories of parties:

  1. parties for which mandatory access must be arranged on the basis of AMLD4, being (i) certain competent Dutch authorities including the Financial Intelligence Unit; (ii) institutions that must investigate their clients under the Dutch Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft-instellingen); and (iii) any legal or natural persons who can demonstrate a legitimate interest that relates to the prevention or combating of money laundering, terrorist financing or associated predicate offenses;
  2. parties that are given access in the interest of compliance with sanctions and the supervision and enforcement thereof, such as the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and De Nederlandsche Bank;
  3. administrative bodies for which it is necessary to trace UBOs in connection with a Dutch or European legal duty (these bodies can be designated by a Governmental Decree); and
  4. any legal entity subject to the UBO registration obligations are given access, insofar as it concerns their own data.

The parties under number 1(ii) and 1(iii) will have access to: the name, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality of UBOs and the nature and extent of the interest held by UBOs.

In addition to the data above, the parties under number 4 will also have access to a UBO’s: birth date and place, private address, BSN (citizen service number) and foreign tax identification number (TIN).

The parties under number 1(i) and 3 will be able to access all UBO data, which, in addition to all data mentioned above, also includes: documentation confirming the identity and other details of the UBO and documentation supporting the nature and extent of the interest held by the UBO.

The access level of the parties under number 2 will depend on their interest in obtaining the relevant information.

The internet consultation on the UBO Access Act is now open through 28 June 2023.