By September 10th, a total of 138,797 registered entities obliged to record the information on their beneficial owners have fulfilled this legal obligation, which makes 85.12% of these entities. Most of them are business entities, followed by institutions, endowments and foundations, while the percentage of associations which have recorded their beneficial owners is the lowest.
On September 4th, the Serbian Business Registers Agency sent notifications to about 6,000 email accounts of the obliged registered entities, whose e-mail addresses are registered in the SBRA databases, notifying each obliged entity which had not yet recorded the information on its beneficial owner in the Central Records to fulfil this obligation prescribed by the Law on the Central Records of Beneficial Owners.
The Agency has warned them of the misdemeanour liability borne by the obliged registered entities and their responsible persons in case they fail to fulfil the legal obligation to record the information on the entity’s beneficial owner.
The notification instructed the obliged registered entities how to access the Central Records of Beneficial Owners through the Agency's website, and how to find more detailed information on the electronic recording procedure, which is posted on the webpage Registers/Central Records of Beneficial Owners.
The table below provides information on the obliged registered entities that have recorded their beneficial owners by September 10th, 2020:
|
Register |
Obliged registered entities |
Obliged registered entities that have recorded the information on their beneficial owners |
% of the obliged registered entities that have recorded the information on their beneficial owners |
|
Register of Business Entities |
126,108 |
110,110 |
87.31% |
|
Register of Foundations and Endowments |
937 |
772 |
82.39% |
|
Register of Associations |
34,413 |
26,584 |
77.25% |
|
Institutions |
1,600 |
1,331 |
83.19% |
|
Total: |
163,058 |
138,797 |
85.12% |
The Central Records of Beneficial Owners was established in the Serbian Business Registers Agency on December 31st, 2018, with the aim to harmonize domestic regulations with European legislation and improve the existing system for the detection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, while achieving a higher level of availability and reliability of data on beneficial owners.
Recording of data on beneficial owners is to be performed by a person who is authorized to represent the obliged registered entity, who is obligated to enter information on the entity’s beneficial owner in the Central Records electronically, using a qualified electronic signature certificate, no later than 15 days from the date of incorporation of the obliged entity or registration of change of the entity’s ownership structure and members of its bodies, based on which the condition for acquiring the status of the beneficial owner of the registered entity has been met.
Simultaneously with the recording of information on the beneficial owner, the data are published on the website, i.e. on the portal of the Agency, so that third parties can get acquainted with the data on the beneficial owner.
Pursuing its legal obligation to check whether an obliged registered entity recorded the information on its beneficial owner within the legally prescribed deadline, the Serbian Business Registers Agency reviewed the data and has sent notifications to those obliged registered entities which have not recorded their beneficial owners in the Central Records, warning them to do so as soon as possible, as otherwise, the Agency will submit a request for initiation of misdemeanour procedure against the obliged registered entity, if it determines that the entity has not recorded the information on its beneficial owner.