How to access the register of beneficial owners?
What information can you get?
Since its creation by Ordinance No. 2016-1635, of December 1, 2020 , the register of beneficial owners of legal persons has not ceased to be talked about, and for good reason. It was a small revolution in terms of transparency in business life.
“ The beneficial owner is the natural person or persons: either who ultimately control, directly or indirectly, the customer; either for which a transaction is carried out or an activity carried ” – article L. 561-2-2 of the monetary and financial code .
The register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners lists a great deal of information on these beneficiaries, including their identification and the percentage of ownership within the entity concerned.
Initially reserved for a restricted public ( L.561-46 of the Monetary and Financial Code ), Ordinance No. 2020-115 of February 12, 2020 set up " access to information relating to beneficial owners is free, regardless of the procedures for consulting or communicating this information ”.
Finally, more than a year later, on April 16, 2021, the General Directorate of the Treasury announced free online access to the register of beneficial owners (announcement available here ) via the INPI website or Infogreffe . However, a differentiation remains.
How do you actually access the data?
Public information on beneficial owners is accessible, free , on the DATA.INPI.FR and the Infogreffe . All you have to do is access the file of the company concerned (search by the name or the SIREN number of the company) to have access to the data of its beneficial owners. The DATA INPI website grants free licenses to authorized persons to access all of the information, upon request. The INPI specifies that the data is updated daily in order to reduce the risk of identity theft and fraud.
What data is publicly available?
Are available on the INPI website, for each beneficiary:
- The name and use name,
- The pseudonym,
- First name,
- The month and year of birth,
- country of residence,
- The nationality
- The nature and extent of the beneficial interests held in the company or entity in question.
The additional information (the day and place of birth of the beneficial owner, his personal address as well as the date on which this person became the beneficial owner) are reserved for three categories of persons identified by article L. 561-46 of the Monetary Code and financial .
These people are:
- Reporting companies or entities;
- Certain authorized authorities in the exercise of their mission, mentioned more specifically in article R. 561-57 of the Monetary and Financial Code , such as supervisory authorities, magistrates of the judicial order, agents of intelligence national financial institution, customs agents, authorized judicial police officers, tax service agents;
- Persons subject to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism within the framework of a vigilance measure, mentioned in article R.561-58 and article L. 561-2 of the Monetary Code and financial institution , having the obligation to identify the beneficial owners of their legal entity clients, such as the Banque de France, auditors, lawyers and chartered accountants.
Beneficiaries are declared when the company is incorporated . They are updated with each operation
