In our blog post of 21 December 2018, updated by our blog post of 2 April 2019, we informed you about the legally required transparency as to the ultimate beneficial owners of enterprises, by means of registration in the so-called UBO-register. According to the royal Decree of 30 July 2018, the information concerning the ultimate beneficial owners of the enterprise had to be registered for the first time at the latest on 30 November 2018. The FPS Finance however allowed to postpone the registration until 30 September 2019. Meanwhile, the FPS Finance announced a tolerance period until 31 December 2019….

The new legally required transparency as to the ultimate beneficial owners of an enterprise is an important additional action point in the M&A practice after completion of an acquisition (“post-closing action”). What? Belgian Companies, (international) non-profit organisations, foundations, trusts and legal entities that are comparable to trusts, have the following new obligations under the Belgian “Law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing and on the restriction of the use of cash”: The Law adds to the Belgian Companies Code (Articles 14/1 and 14/2) and to the Belgian NPO and Foundations Law[1] (Articles 58/11…