Last updated: 8 January 2021
As of February 14, 2021, natural and legal persons may inquire the Register of the Beneficial Owners held by the National Trade Registry (ONRC), without the obligation to prove a legitimate interest in this regard, subject to online registration on the ONRC portal and payment of a tax, provides Order no. 7323 / C / 2020, published on December 31, 2020 in the Official Journal.
Initially, the Law no. 129/2019 for the prevention and fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, setting the obligation to declare the beneficial owners of companies incorporated under the Romanian companies law no. 31/1990 or associations / foundations, only allowed natural or legal persons access to the Register on condition of justifying a legitimate interest.
For the record, the law defines “the beneficial owner” as the natural person who ultimately owns / controls the customer, and/or a natural person on whose behalf or interest a transaction, an operation or activity is being conducted, directly or indirectly.
In accordance with the provisions of OUG no. 191 of 28 October 2020; associations and foundations, as well as legal persons registered in the Trade Registry have a maximum period of 90 days from the end of the state of alert in Romania, for filing of the declaration concerning the beneficial owner.
If within companies incorporated under law no. 31/1990, the beneficial owner can be:
- (i) the natural person (s) ultimately holding or controlling the company subject to registration in the Trade Register, by the direct or indirect holding of 25% plus one share or more than 25% of its capital
or
- (ii) the natural person holding a management position,
as regards associations and foundations, the beneficial owners can be:
- (i) the partners or the founders;
- (ii) members of the Board of Directors;
- (iii) persons in executive functions, delegated by the Board of Directors for the exercise of its powers;
- (iv) the category of natural persons or, as the case may be, legal persons in whose interest the association or foundation has been established;
- (v) any other natural person who ultimately exercises control, by any means, over the non-profit entity.
DATA THAT CAN BE INQUIRED IN THE REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS: surname and first name, month and year of birth, nationality and country of residence of the beneficial owner, as well as information relating to the nature and extent of the profit generating interest held.
FEES
- RON 20,00 for information on the beneficial owners of a legal person (up to date situation) -
- RON 100,00 for issuing a report with the history of the beneficial owners of a legal person / on the status of beneficial owner of a natural person.
The Trade Registry shall issue a guide for the use of the online service for information provision.