Luxembourg Beneficial Owners Register Access Restored for Certain Professionals, Press

Luxembourg's Ministry of Justice has announced the restoration of access to the Register of Beneficial Owners (Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs - RBE) for certain professionals and the press.

According to the ministry, following the temporary suspension of public access to the RBE, in light of the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 22 November 2022, the Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR), the Ministry of Justice and the Government IT Centre (Centre des technologies de l'information de l'État - CTIE) have actively worked together to find a technical and legal solution in accordance with the conditions set by the CJEU.

Consequently, access to the RBE has been restored in the meantime for a certain number of professionals who already had identified access to the RBE and the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés - RCS).

In the coming days, access will also be restored to members of the press who have a legitimate interest in being able to consult the RBE in the context of their journalistic research. Access for national journalists will be managed by the Luxembourg Press Council (Conseil de Presse) within the framework of an agreement with the LBR.

Access will be restored in principle within the same period for professionals, as defined in the 2004 law on the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Access will also be restored at a later stage for other actors having a legitimate interest and having a link with the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Throughout this time, the competent national authorities have continued (and continue) to benefit from dedicated access via an intranet portal, enabling them to carry out tasks related to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Discussions are also taking place at European level to bring the text of the directive on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing into line with the case law of the CJEU.