Rarely has a decision by the European courts aroused such misunderstanding. On November 22, the fifteen judges of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared illegal the access of the general public to the registers listing the beneficial owners, or real owners, of companies. This measure, introduced by the European Union (EU) in 2018, represented a major step forward in terms of financial transparency. The judgment of the CJEU therefore sounded like a crushing blow for many specialists in the matter.
“The Court has destroyed in one day the result of years of work, in particular on the part of civil society which was at the origin of this battle for transparency, says Delia Ferreira Rubio, president of Transparency International. This is the greatest gift the Court could give to organized crime. It has probably not taken sufficient measure of the consequences of such a decision in terms of stepping back in the fight against money laundering. »
The transparency of beneficiary registers was one of the key measures of the fifth European anti-money laundering directive (2018), voted in a context of repeated financial scandals, like the “Panama Papers”. Gradually opened to the public since 2021 in the various EU states, these registers list the real beneficiaries of companies, making it more difficult to hide fraudsters and criminal networks behind nominees and front companies.
This transparency operation, defended by civil society organizations, was opposed by some company owners, who felt that the publication of their name violated their privacy. Brought to a decision on the occasion of a preliminary question posed by the Luxembourg courts, the CJEU ruled in their favor. In its judgment of November 22the Court considers this transparency to be contrary to the respect for private life and the protection of citizens’ personal data, guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
Eight countries have already locked their registers
The consequences of this decision were not long in coming. In the space of a few days, several European states have closed access to their registers to the public: the Netherlands, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Luxembourg.
“We have closed the registry to avoid further prosecution, explains Yves Gonner, the head of the Luxembourg register. Access must now be reconsidered as part of the CJEU’s ruling, to gain legal certainty of what we can and cannot provide to the public. » A preventive approach criticized both by anti-corruption organizations and by European parliamentarians, who, like Ramona Strugariu (Renew, centre), are surprised to “this eagerness to comply with European decisions”.
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