Malta, through the Malta Business Registry (MBR), has become amongst the very first EU Member States, together with only two other jurisdictions (as at 08 June 2022), that have connected successfully to the BORIS. The latter is a decentralised system interconnecting the central national BO registers and the European e-Justice Portal through the European Central Platform, enabling the sharing of data between all EU Member States. Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS) serves as the main search service that is available on beneficial ownership information and whereby such information is that required by Directive (EU) 2015/849.
Malta's connection to BORIS signifies the willingness and significant planning towards the complete readiness to share the required data in line with other legislative requirements from its fully populated BO Register. Once the network expands, citizens would in return be able to use this essential tool and prove its utility across the EU single market. Such a stance will enable a better share of information amongst the EU on beneficial owners from a centralized platform.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the MBR, Dr. Geraldine Spiteri Lucas, remarked how this follows a long process of end-to-end testing with the European Commission in order to be able to go live on the production environment. ‘The fact that we are amongst the first EU jurisdictions to implement such measures and integrate with such a system, sheds light and gives a sense of recognition towards the non-stop work done to ensure an up-to-date and accurate BO Register which as time goes by is proving to be an essential tool for local and international practitioners' said Dr Spiteri Lucas.
Source: Malta Business Registry (MBR)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.