Searching for natural persons in the Trade Register one step closer

In the future, civil-law notaries will be able to search the Trade Register for natural persons. This is stipulated in the draft decree amending the Trade Register Decree, which has been published for consultation. The Royal Dutch Association of Civil-Law Notaries (KNB) welcomes this proposal. This will allow civil-law notaries to better perform their statutory duties in legal transactions, such as their gatekeeper role.

The Royal Netherlands Bar Association (KNB) has previously advocated for civil-law notaries to be allowed to search the Trade Register for natural persons. This would allow civil-law notaries to contribute more to the prevention and combating of fraud and other forms of financial and economic crime through legal entities. The Combined Corporate Law Committee (GCV) of the Netherlands Bar Association (NOvA) and the KNB also support this proposal (pdf, 110 kB) . However, the committee emphasizes that no miracles should be expected from this. Identifying interconnections within a network of companies can be extremely difficult.

Management ban
Another important point in the draft decree is the registration of management bans. To verify that the proposed appointment of a person is not impeded by a management ban, the notary will be given access to the name and date of birth of the individuals registered with a management ban. Like the GCV (pdf, 136 kB), the KNB (Royal Dutch Chamber of Commerce) advocates that the place of birth of the individuals involved should also be made available to the notary. This should reduce the risk of mistaken identity when a management ban is applied.