Recital 134

(134) The judgement of the Court of Justice in Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers (31), annulled the amendment made by Directive (EU) 2018/843 to Article 30(5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 insofar as it required Member States to ensure that information on the beneficial ownership of companies and of other legal entities incorporated within their territory is accessible in all cases to any member of the general public. In order to ensure legal clarity, it is important to adapt that provision by clarifying that only persons or organisations with legitimate interest should be able to access that information. The same condition should apply to the access to information on beneficial ownership of trusts or similar legal arrangements. Directive (EU) 2015/849 should therefore be amended. The implications of that judgement extend beyond Article 30(5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 and are similar for the provisions regulating access to beneficial ownership information of legal arrangements. In order to ensure that the Union framework strikes the right balance between the protection of fundamental rights and the pursuit of a legitimate objective of general interest such as the protection of the Union’s financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing, it is therefore appropriate to introduce amendments to Article 31(4) of Directive (EU) 2015/849. Member States should be granted one year from the date of entry into force of this Directive to bring into force the necessary laws, regulations and administrative measures to transpose those amendments. Given the importance of ensuring a proportionate Union AML/CFT framework, Member States should make every effort to transpose those amendments as soon as possible before that deadline.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-09-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.