“Guidance on the Register of Beneficial Owners of Commercial Partnerships” issued by the MBR

The Malta Business Registry (MBR) has just published its “Guidance on the Register of Beneficial Owners of Commercial Partnerships” providing an overview of the requirements that need to be adhered to in terms of the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) Regulations which implemented by virtue of LN 374 of 2017.

These Regulations impose on companies and commercial partnerships the obligation to maintain regular updated information on the beneficial owners of the entity and to submit such information with the MBR in accordance with the relative statutory form.

The following are the statutory forms and the time frames within which they need to be submitted to the MBR by companies and commercial partnerships: –

1. Form BO1: Provides notification and details of the Beneficial Owners and needs to be submitted together with the incorporation documents;

• Form BO2: Gives notice on changes in the Beneficial Owners and needs to be submitted not later than 14 days from the effective date of every change;

• Form BO, Annual Confirmation: to be filed annually together with the Annual Return of the company confirming the information on the Beneficial Owner and therefore submission is to take place by not later than 42 days from the anniversary date of incorporation;

• Form BO, Change in SMO: Provides notification of the person who holds the position of Senior Manager Officials (SMO), where no beneficial owner can be identified. Such form needs to be submitted not later than 14 days from the effective date of every change;

• Form BO, Change in details of BO/SMO: Gives notice on changes in the Beneficial Owners or SMO. Such form needs to be submitted not later than 14 days from the effective date of every change.

Such forms need to be accompanied by a certified true copy of the identification document for every Beneficial Owner and SMO.

Information on the Register of Beneficial Owners that is accessible to the general public entails the full name, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence and the extent and nature of the beneficial interest of the beneficial owners of an entity.

For more details kindly refer to the following link: https://mbr.mt/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Guidance-document-on-the-Register-of-Beneficial-Owners-of-Commercial-Partnerships.pdf