KNB: 'Give notaries access to the UBO register again quickly'

Notaries must regain access to the UBO register as soon as possible and be given access to more UBO data. This is according to the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-Law Notaries (KNB) in response to the consultation on the Amendment Act restricting access to UBO registers.

The new legislation, which is currently under consultation , follows a ruling by the European Court of Justice on November 22, 2022, in which the court declared the public nature of the UBO register invalid. An amendment to the law will restrict access to the UBO register. Only certain parties, including institutions referred to in the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft), will be permitted to consult the UBO register again.

More information
Civil-law notaries and other Wwft institutions will then again have access to the previously public UBO data. This includes the name, month of birth, year of birth, country of residence, nationality, and the nature and extent of the UBO's economic interest. However, the Royal Netherlands Bank (KNB) believes that civil-law notaries should also have access to the other data included in the UBO register, including at least the date of birth, place of birth, country of birth, and residential address of the UBO. The KNB also advocates that civil-law notaries also have access to the UBO register for the purposes of compliance with sanctions.

Simple and efficient
The Royal Netherlands Association of Civil-Law Notaries (KNB) considers it important that civil-law notaries, as part of their gatekeeper role, regain access to the UBO register as quickly as possible, simply and efficiently, even if this access is facilitated by third parties. Therefore, the KNB wishes to be closely involved in drafting the general administrative order and the rules governing how UBO data can be accessed and the requirements to be met when accessing this data.