Information on the beneficial owner (Section 19 AMLA) of associations and other legal entities (Sections 20, 21 AMLA) shall be made accessible via the Transparency Register in accordance with Section 23. Inspection of the Transparency Register shall be carried out exclusively electronically via the website of the Transparency Register (see under "Online Procedure"). Inspection is only possible after prior online registration (see "Online Procedure").
The inspection takes place electronically via the user account of the respective inspecting party.
As of January 1, 2020, access to the information on beneficial owners in the transparency register is generally public (Section 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 3 AMLA).
In the case of legal entities under private law and registered partnerships (Section 20 (1) sentence 1 AMLA) and trusts (Section 21 AMLA), inspection is permitted to the following institutions and persons:
- unrestricted access: supervisory and law enforcement authorities, Central Financial Transaction Investigation Authority, Federal Office of Administration, Bundesanzeiger Verlags GmbH, the authorities responsible pursuant to Section 13 of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act, the Federal Central Tax Office as well as the local tax authorities pursuant to Section 6 (2) No. 5 of the Fiscal Code - AO, the authorities responsible for the clarification, prevention and elimination of dangers, the courts and bodies pursuant to Section 2 (4) AMLA
- Access only on a case-by-case basis and within the scope of their customer due diligence obligations: Obligated parties pursuant to Section 2 (1) GwG
(e.g., dealers in goods who must comply with due diligence obligations for the prevention of money laundering) - restricted access: all members of the public (e.g., non-governmental organizations, journalists and private individuals). However, these can only know the surname, first name, month and year of birth of the beneficial owner, the country of residence and all nationalities of the beneficial owner, as well as the nature and extent of the beneficial interest, unless the other information is already available from other public registers. Based on the ruling of the European Court of Justice of 22.11.2022 (Case C-37/20, C-601/20), members of the public must now justify the request for inspection when submitting the request and, to this end, present a legitimate interest in inspection.
At the request of the beneficial owner, the Bundesanzeiger-Verlag may fully or partially restrict the inspection of the transparency register and the transmission of the data, taking into account all circumstances of the individual case, due to overriding interests worthy of protection.
Examples: The beneficial owner is a minor or legally incompetent; facts justify the assumption that the inspection would expose the beneficial owner to the risk of becoming a victim of e.g. fraud, hostage-taking, etc.