Implementation of the Central Register of Real Property Ownership (RCTIR).
The Ministry of Justice has enabled access to the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership for the obliged parties established in article 2 of Law 10/2010, of 28 April, on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The creation of this register is set out in Royal Decree 609/2023 of 11 July, the purpose of which is to implement the provisions of the third and fourth additional provisions of Law 10/2010 of 28 April on the creation of and access to the RCTIR.
The function of the register is to record the beneficial ownership of legal entities, thus facilitating the efficient achievement of the objective of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and ensuring transparency in corporate structures.
What is required for registration?
- Submit the documentation proving that you are a regulated entity in accordance with article 2 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April 2010 (e.g. articles of association or the F22 form sent to SEPBLAC).
- If necessary, documentation accrediting the power of attorney must be provided.
- All documentation provided must be a valid electronic copy, with a Secure Verification Code (CSV).
Practical consequences of the creation of the RCTR for obliged parties
The creation of this register will facilitate compliance with the obligation to identify beneficial ownership, as well as with the obligation established in article 6 of Law 10/2010, which states that obliged parties must apply continuous monitoring measures to the business relationship, with regard to this section, in order to ensure that the data is up to date.
Status of the Register at European level
The RCTIR will be connected to the central European platform via the Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS). This will allow Spanish authorities and, subsequently, obliged parties to access beneficial ownership registry information from other EU member states.
Admission of customers and consequences for the operations of regulated entities
This new Register (RCTIR) may lead to a practical simplification of the documentation and information currently required, through the Manual, on customer admission/KYC policies and, therefore, on the practical operation of admission of legal person (company) customers by obliged entities, simplifying it.
Obtaining reliable documentation through this Register would mean that there would be no need to include, among the documentation required from customers who are legal persons domiciled in Spain, that relating to the declaration and identification of beneficial ownership, insofar as this information will be directly accessible through this Register.
It is therefore recommended that:
- review the options for simplifying internal regulations in this area.
- Adapt and optimise customer admission operations, taking advantage of the options and benefits offered by this new Register.
It is expected that, as has happened with other sources of public information, obliged entities will soon also be able to avail themselves of technological solutions that facilitate the simultaneous performance of multiple checks, as well as the recording or traceability of these checks through software.
Access to the Central Registry of Beneficial Ownership
It is important to bear in mind that in order to carry out this procedure you need to be registered in the Cl@ve system or, in any case, have one of the different electronic certificates of the @firma platform (FNMT certificate or DNI-e).
The procedure can be accessed using the electronic certificate of an individual or a representative of the legal entity via the following link.
Informative note prepared by ECIJA's Governance and Compliance Area
