The identification of the ultimate beneficial owner is carried out upon the initial registration of a public sector partner (hereinafter “PSP”) in the Public Sector Partner Register (hereinafter “PSPR”). Verification of the identification of the ultimate beneficial owner is carried out subsequently and on an ongoing basis throughout the duration of the PPO’s registration in the PPO Register. The identification of the ultimate beneficial owner and the verification of the identification of the ultimate beneficial owner have equivalent effects.
The identification of the beneficial owner (hereinafter referred to as “BO”) is carried out by an authorized person pursuant to Section 6a(1) of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. the Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and on Amendments to Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 297/2008 Coll.”), i.e., a UBO is “a natural person who actually controls or exercises control over a legal entity, a natural person—entrepreneur, or an asset pool, and any natural person on whose behalf these entities conduct their activities or business.”
Section 6a(1) of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. sets forth several criteria on the basis of which a UBO may be identified. The authorized person is required to specify the KUV in the verification document, along with the criteria for its identification. The verification document is prepared by the authorized person and is publicly available in the RPVS.
If the KUV cannot be identified pursuant to the provisions of Section 6a(1) or pursuant to the provisions of 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 a KUV in connection with the above, the authorized person shall identify and register the members of senior management in the RPVS.
This situation applies primarily, for example, to civic associations (where there is no ownership structure) or if a company has multiple partners, none of whom holds a business share in the company greater than 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 the “RPVS Act”), an authorized person is required to verify the identity of the KUV in connection with:
- the submission of a proposal to register a change in the KUV,
- the registration of an authorized person in the RPVS,
- as of December 31 of the calendar year, unless otherwise provided in Section 11(8) of the RPVS Act,
- the conclusion of a contract whose performance exceeds the value of 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 under a contract whose total value exceeds 1,000,000 euros within 30 days, no earlier than ten days prior to such performance.
The PVS and the authorized person are responsible for the accuracy of the data recorded in the RPVS, for the identification of the KUV, and for verifying the KUV identification.
Effective September 1, 2019, KUV identification may be performed without the conditions under Section 11(2) of the RPVS Act being met, and thus “voluntarily,” based on an agreement between the PVS and the authorized person. Voluntary verification of the identification of the ultimate beneficiary also constitutes an exception under Section 11(3) of the RPVS Act. Voluntary verification of the end user is also performed via the electronic service “Verification of the End User.”
