The Ministry of Justice is launching a new Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Sole Proprietors and Public Associations (USR).
The data will be transferred between August 7 and 16, 2020, and the official launch of the USR is expected on August 16.
Previously, there was one line for “founder” in the USR, which indicated both the founders and the beneficial owners in one field. It would be inconvenient to work with such information, to analyze it. Basically, the name, address, date of birth and other details of the beneficial owner were recorded without separation. All this data is now structured in separate fields and can be analyzed as needed.
In the new USR, the concept of “ultimate beneficial owner” was created, separate from the founder, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Laundering) of Criminal Proceeds, Terrorist Financing and Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
Clear structuring and inclusion of information on beneficial owners in separate blocks will help to publish information about the ultimate beneficiary who exercises decisive control over the activities of the legal entity in the format of open data and to control beneficial owners, which will help prevent money laundering and illegal financial flows.
Other expected benefits of the new register include:
- simplification of user access to the register with a user-friendly web interface;
- creation of new registration actions and new forms;
- improvement of business registration processes, reflection of the changes, possibility to form the statement after carrying out any registration action;
- creation of additional control mechanisms and security modules;
It should be noted that information on the ultimate beneficial owner of a legal entity or the founder of a legal entity is submitted and subsequently updated by all legal entities, except for political parties, structural formations of political parties, trade unions, their associations, trade union organizations provided for in the statutes of trade unions and their associations, creative unions, local branches of creative unions, employers’ organizations, their associations, bar associations, chambers of commerce and industry, associations of co-owners of apartment buildings, religious organizations, state bodies, local governments, their associations, state and municipal enterprises, institutions, organizations.
Previously, there was one line for "founder" in the USR, which indicated both the founders and the beneficial owners in one text. All this data is now structured in separate fields and can be analyzed as needed.
Anastasiya Kozlovtseva, Head of International Relations and Fundraising
