On 6 August 2021, the Registrar of Companies announced that partnerships registered with it under chapter 116(50) of the Partnerships and Business Names Law are deemed to be "other legal entities". Consequently, the details of the beneficial owners of partnerships are required to be registered in the Central Registry of Beneficial Owners, which the Registrar maintains, in accordance with the amended Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law 188(I)/2007 (the "AML Law").
This decision is interesting as the predominant view in Cyprus was that partnerships fell outside the definition of "legal entities" in the AML Law, based on the definition of "partnerships" in article 5 of the Partnerships and Business Names Law. Nevertheless, the Registrar later announced, following the legal opinion of the attorney general, that all partnerships (general and limited) that are registered with the Registrar are under the same disclosure obligation as limited liability companies provided for in chapter 113 of the Companies Law.
This announcement further clarifies that the Central Registry of Beneficial Owners does not currently permit partnerships to register details of their beneficial owners. However, adjustments to the Central Registry are expected to be implemented in due course, so that the registration can commence from the beginning of October 2021.
It is confirmed, however, that the procedure for submitting information on partnerships will be the same as submitting information on companies.
For further information on this topic please contact Stella Koukounis at Solsidus Law by telephone (+357 22 007700) or email ([email protected]). The Solsidus Law website can be accessed at www.solsiduslaw.com.