The Department of the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property (TEEDI), informs (Here in Greek) that on 06/12/2024 the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering from Illegal Activities (Amendment) (No. 2) Law of 2024 with number N.141(I))/2024 was published, the key amendments of which are analyzed below (unofficial translation):
- The monetary fines will be imposed only on the company or other legal entity, which refuses or omits or neglects to fulfill the obligations of submitting data for the ultimate beneficial owners, as these obligations arise under the provisions of Law 188(I)/2007 and the said issued Directives. In other words, financial burdens will not be imposed on each director and secretary.
- A director or managing director of a company, which refuses or omits or neglects to fulfill the obligations of submitting information for the beneficial owners, is jointly and/or separately liable with the company for the repayment of the financial burden imposed on the company.
- The financial fines have been revised. Specifically, a monetary charge of one hundred euros (€100) will be imposed on the first day of the violation and a further monetary charge of fifty euros (€50) for each day the violation continues, with a maximum total charge of five thousand euros (€5,000) per company or other legal entity.
- Addition of a provision, which gives the authority to the Registrar of Companies to issue a Directive (ΚΔΠ) for institutionalizing the procedure of administrative review and/or submission and examination of an objection against a decision to impose a monetary burden.
- Addition of provision, which empowers the Registrar of Companies to remove from the register of business entities a company or other legal entity that refuses or omits or neglects to fulfill its obligations to update the data on the beneficial owners registry, by analogy with the company deletion procedure, pursuant to article 327 of the Law on Companies or subsection (5) of article 57 of the Law on Uniform and Heterogeneous Cooperatives and Trade Names.
- Addition of a provision, which gives the authority to the Registrar of Companies to apply to the Court for the issuance of an injunction ordering the compliance of any person with the obligations arising from article 61A of Law 188(I)/2007 and the Directives issued pursuant thereto.
Extension and Withdrawal of Financial Charges
In the context of the review of the practical implementation of the legislation and taking into account the high financial burdens, the size of the companies in the Republic of Cyprus which are in their majority SMEs, the high percentage of compliance achieved, but also the compensatory measures included with the aforementioned amendment of the Law, the executive government authorities, in consultation with the House of Representatives, decided to grant an additional extension of the stipulated time for submitting data of the Ultimate Beneficial Owners for all cases of Companies and Other Legal Entities, until January 31, 2025.
To implement the above decision, the Registrar of Companies issued on 16/12/2024 the amending Directive KDP423/2024. At the same time, the aforementioned K.D.P. also provides for an extension of the expected processing time of the UBO Registry Data Update Process for the year 2024 until March 31, 2025.
It is emphasized that from February 1, 2025, non-compliance with the submission of the details of the beneficial owners will result in the imposition of administrative and other sanctions, in accordance with the provisions of Law 188(I)/2007 on Preventing and Combating the Laundering of Income from Illegal Activities , as amended and passed by the House of Representatives and put into effect on 12/16/2024, and of KDP112/21, as amended and valid.
In continuation of the above regulations, The Registrar proceeds with the withdrawal of the monetary charges that have been imposed from 01/04/2024 and the return of the relevant sums of money that have been paid.
Refunds will be made as follows:
- For online payments made through JCC, the amount will be refunded directly to the card with which the payment was made, without any further action on the part of the affected person.
- For payments made to the Fund of the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property, the amount will be returned to the applicant’s Bank Account after presentation to the Department’s fund of the KE1 form , accompanied by the authorization form for payments from FIMAS and a photocopy of the proof of payment, as well as the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) to be credited, as described in the Authorization Form.
- It is reminded that the Register of Beneficial Beneficiaries is electronic and it can only be updated on the electronic link: https://ubo.meci.gov.cy
For any questions and/or information, interested parties can contact the e-mail address fmaa-cy@uniteamservices.com
