The identification of the final beneficiary is carried out when the public sector partner (hereinafter referred to as “PSP”) is first entered in the register of public sector partners (hereinafter referred to as “RPVS”). Verification of the identification of the final beneficiary is carried out subsequently and on an ongoing basis throughout the duration of the PSP's entry in the RPVS. The identification of the final beneficiary and the verification of the identification of the final beneficiary have equivalent effects.
Identification of the ultimate beneficiary (hereinafter referred to as “UBO”) is performed by an authorized person in accordance with the provisions of Section 6a(1) of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. Act on the Protection against Legalization of Proceeds from Criminal Activity and on the Protection against Financing of Terrorism and on Amendments to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 297/2008 Coll.”), i.e. KUV is “a natural person who actually controls or supervises a legal entity, a natural person - entrepreneur or an association of assets, and any natural person for whose benefit these entities carry out their activities or business.”
Section 6a(1) of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. lists several criteria on the basis of which KUV can be determined. The authorized person is required to state the determination of KUV in the verification document, together with the criteria for its identification. The verification document is drawn up by the authorized person and is publicly available in the RPVS.
If the KUV cannot be identified within the meaning of Section 6a(1) or Section 6a(3), the authorized person shall then proceed to apply Section 6a(2) of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. If no natural person meets the defining characteristics of KUV in connection with the above, the authorized person shall identify and register the members of senior management in the RPVS.
This situation applies in particular to civil associations (where there is no ownership structure) or if a company has several partners, none of whom has a share in the company exceeding 25%, etc.
Pursuant to Section 11 of Act No. 315/2016 Coll. on the Register of Public Sector Partners and on Amendments to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as the “RPVS Act”), the authorized person is obliged to verify the identification of the KUV in connection with:
- the submission of a proposal for the registration of a change to the KUV,
- the registration of an authorized person in the RPVS,
- as of December 31 of the calendar year, unless § 11(8) of the RPVS Act provides otherwise,
- the conclusion of a contract whose performance exceeds the value of the performance under Section 2(2) and (3), or its amendment, no earlier than ten days prior to the conclusion of the contract or its amendment,
- upon performance of the contract, the value of which exceeds a total of EUR 1,000,000 within 30 days, no earlier than ten days prior to performance of the contract.
The PVS and the authorized person are responsible for the accuracy of the data entered in the RPVS, for the identification of the KUV and for verifying the identification of the KUV.
With effect from 1 September 2019, KUV identification may be carried out without the conditions set out in Section 11(2) of the RPVS Act being met, i.e. “voluntarily”, on the basis of an agreement between the PVS and the authorized person. Voluntary verification of KUV identification also constitutes an exception under Section 11(3) of the RPVS Act. Voluntary KUV verification is also performed via the electronic service “Verification of the final beneficiary.”
