Source: Royal Decree 609/2023, of July 11, 2010 | Public Treasury.
Effective: As of September 19, 2023
In Spain, Decree 609/202 Decree 609/2023 was published, issuing the Regulation for the creation and operation of the Central Public Registry of Definitive Beneficial Ownership in Spain to extend the applicable regulation on the identification of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) of Spanish legal entities or entities or structures with or without legal personality ( trust type trusts and similar), including when they have eventual commercial operations or are owners of land in Spain and whether or not they are administered in Spain or in other member countries of the European Union (EU).
In this sense, in Spain, as in most of the world, including Mexico, mandatory regulations have been established which, although they may change from one country to another, have the common objective of identifying, tracking and monitoring locally and internationally the individuals who control and obtain the final profits of the companies, in order to avoid money laundering and financing for criminal activities. Therefore, it is necessary to collect the information with which such individuals are identified, since in addition to being mandatory, it currently implies an international tax compliance, with which multinational companies may exchange the identification and control information that they integrate in each of the countries in which they operate and thus expedite the compliance to which they are obliged in such countries. The Spanish Decree and regulations establish, among others, the following:
- Incorporate information obtained from other databases that are centralized in said registry and by the transfer of data between it and the different registries of legal entities.
- Failure to comply with the obligation to identify and inform the Central Registry of Real Estate Titles will result in the closure of the registry.
- To be reported are names, date of birth, identification documents and their countries of issue, countries of residence, nationality, e-mail addresses and criteria that qualify them as UBOs.
- With respect to trusts or similar, the identity of settlors, trustees, protectors, beneficiaries and any other individuals who ultimately exercise control of the trust must be disclosed.
- The information will be public and will be available for as long as the individual is a beneficial owner and for 10 years thereafter.
- The information may be accessed, provided that the legitimate interest is proven and the identity is proved, being able to know only the name, surname, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality of the final or real beneficiaries; except when the beneficiary has privacy.
- Information on beneficial ownership must be provided to the new registry within 9 months of the entry into force of the Royal Decree, even if the sectoral registries have already been informed beforehand.
- Any change in its actual ownership must be reported to the Commercial Registry within 10 days, otherwise the commercial registration will also be cancelled.
Leave a reply