ZAGREB, December 20, 2018 – The register of real business owners in Croatia will be available to the public, as envisaged by draft amendments to legislation on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing, proposed by the government on Thursday and sent into parliamentary fast-track procedure.
The amendments are supposed to align the national legislation on this matter to European Union rules.
Presenting the changes, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said that the Croatian legislation was now introducing new definitions and persons subject to this law.
Thus, the legislation provides for definitions of virtual currencies, virtual property and providers of custodial financial services.
The second important matter is the register of real owners, according to Marić. For the purpose of ensuring transparency regarding real ownership and controlling structures in companies, data about physical persons that are the real owners of legal entities will be made available to the public.
All that will be regulated by a rule book that is supposed to be adopted by the end of 2019, Marić said.
The register is to contain data about real owners of companies, associations, foundations, and institutions not founded by Croatia.
The law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing was passed in 2017.
The register will be managed by the Financial Agency (FINA).
The amended legislation also specifies exceptions, when data on real owners will not be available to public, such as when publication of such data can pose a threat to the security of the owner in question, which means that they may be victims of fraud, extortion, and other criminal offences.
The term “real owners” means the natural person or persons in the ultimate link of owners who, directly or indirectly, own or exercise control of the legal entity in question.
More news on doing business in Croatia can be found in the Business section.
