End of unlimited public access to the RBE

Following a series of lawsuits, the Tribunal d’arrondissement de et à Luxembourg had referred a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU“) for a preliminary ruling on the balance between the transparency requirements of the 6th AML Directive and the respect of fundamental rights.

The CJEU finally ruled on 22 November 2022 that the free public access to the information contained in the Register of Ultimate Beneficiaries (the “RBE“) was illegal.

This access was considered to constitute “a serious incursion with the fundamental rights to privacy and the protection of personal data“. This interference does not meet the conditions of the principle of proportionality.

Following this decision, access to the RBE was temporarily suspended until the publication of a solution allowing access to be restricted to professionals included in the scope of application of Article 2 of the Law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

For its part, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that it will “comply with European case law“.

Link to the CJEU press release: shorturl.at/lnBOY

Link to the CJEU judgment: shorturl.at/jNR47