On the 5th of July the European Commission released an amending proposal to the 4th Anti Money laundering Directive which included provisions for Member States to create a central business register of beneficial ownership. The new proposal will require Member States to bring forward the date for effective transposition of the Directive by the end of 2016. In addition, along with a more urgent implementation date the amended proposal makes provisions now for full public access to the central business registers which was not the case in the original directive.
EFB supports the principles proposed under the directive and supports measures to combat money laundering in all of its forms. EFB understands the importance of such registers to trace criminal activity but emphasizes the necessity to control the use of the information. As such, EFB is working with its members on a joint position paper to ensure that the family businesses will not be negatively affected by this new proposal.