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About the Central Records

The Central Records of Beneficial Owners started operating on 31 December 2018 within the Serbian Business Registers Agency, with a view to making data on the beneficial owners of legal entities and other entities registered in the Republic of Serbia readily available to competent authorities. In this manner, the Central Records are part of the system for combating money laundering and terrorism financing in the Republic of Serbia.

The Records are organized in accordance with international standards that are an integral part of Recommendations 24 and 25 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - an intergovernmental body that sets standards in the field of combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The degree of compliance of the system in Serbia with those standards is checked and evaluated by MONEYVAL, a Committee of the Council of Europe.

Relevant Regulations and Other Acts

Glossary

THE CENTRAL RECORDS are a public, integrated, central, electronic database of natural persons who are the beneficial owner of a Registered Entity.

RECORDING is the entry, change or deletion of data that are specified by the law and other regulations as the subject of recording in the Central Records.

REGISTERED ENTITIES are legal entities and other forms of organization that are under the obligation to record data on the beneficial owner:

  1. companies (other than public joint-stock companies);
  2. cooperatives;
  3. branch offices of foreign companies;
  4. business associations and associations (other than political parties, trade unions, sports organizations and associations, churches and religious communities);
  5. foundations and endowments;
  6. institutions;
  7. representative offices of foreign companies, associations, foundations and endowments.

The obligation to record the beneficial owner does not apply to companies and institutions of which the Republic of Serbia, an autonomous province or a local self-government unit is the only member or founder.

THE BENEFICIAL OWNER is:

  1. a natural person, who indirectly or directly owns 25% or more shares, voting rights or other rights, on the basis of which they participate in the management of the Registered Entity, i.e. participates in the capital of the Registered Entity with a share of 25% or more;
  2. a natural person who directly or indirectly has a predominant influence on business management and decision-making;
  3. a natural person, who indirectly provides or is providing funds to the Registered Entity and, on that basis, significantly influences the decision-making of the management body of the Registered Entity when deciding on financing and business operations;
  4. a natural person who is the founder, trustee, protector, beneficiary if designated, as well as the person who has a dominant position in the management of the trust, i.e. in another entity under foreign law;
  5. a natural person who is registered as the representative of cooperatives, associations, foundations, endowments and institutions, if the authorized representative has not registered another natural person as the beneficial owner.

THE GROUNDS FOR RECORDING IN THE CENTRAL RECORDS are:

  1. founding of a Registered Entity;
  2. changes in the ownership structure and members of the bodies of the Registered Entity, as well as other changes on the basis of which the fulfillment of the conditions for acquiring the capacity of beneficial owner of the Registered Entity can be assessed.

Subject of Recording

The Central Records contain the following information about the beneficial owner of the Registered Entity:

  1. for a domestic natural person – personal name, unique citizen identification number and country of residence;
  2. for a foreign national – personal name, passport number and country of issuance and/or personal number for a foreign national and/or number of a foreigner's identity card and country of issuance in accordance with the regulations governing the conditions for the entry, movement and stay of foreign nationals in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, day, month, year and place of birth, country of residence and citizenship;
  3. for migrants or exiles – personal name, identification number, day, month, year and place of birth and country of residence;
  4. the grounds for acquiring the capacity of beneficial owner of the Registered Entity - according to the Rulebook on the Content of the Central Records of Beneficial Owners ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 94/18);
  5. the date of recording the data.

The Central Records also contain the following data on the Registered Entity, taken over from the competent Registers:

  1. business name, i.e. name;
  2. address of the seat;
  3. date of entry, change or deletion of data;
  4. registration number assigned by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia;
  5. tax identification number (TIN);
  6. status of the registered entity (e.g. active, in bankruptcy, undergoing liquidation, undergoing forced liquidation, deleted);
  7. legal form, i.e. form of organization;
  8. core business activity code;
  9. information about the representative;
  10. the natural person who is registered as a member of the body;
  11. registered capital;
  12. data on members, i.e. founders and the percentage of their shares, i.e. the number and percentage of their shares;
  13. abbreviated business name;
  14. business name in a foreign language;
  15. abbreviated business name in a foreign language;
  16. address for receiving post;
  17. e-mail address;
  18. bank account numbers;
  19. contact information, if registered.

Information