AMENDMENT OF TERMS AND AMENDMENT OF FINES GENERATED BY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH LAW N. 112/2020 “ON THE REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS”

Assuming that many problems have occurred in the application of this law, in order to facilitate and fix the factual situation where only 1/3 of the reporting entities have been able to register the data of their beneficial owners, the Albanian Government and furthermore the Parliament are evaluating an intervention by proposing further amendments to the current Law no. 122/2020 "On the register of beneficial owners".

In the recently proposed bill, important amendments and additions have been made, which mainly consist of:

Extension of the deadline for the initial reporting of the beneficial owner by existing reporting entities with indirect ownership registered in the commercial register and by non-profit organizations until 01.04.2022.
Extension of the deadline for the initial reporting of the beneficial owner by reporting entities who register ex novo from within 30 calendar days from the date of registration of the reporting entity, to within 40 calendar days from the date of registration of the reporting entity.
Amnesty of fines imposed by the QKB before the entry into force of the bill, relating to failure to fulfill the obligation for the initial reporting of beneficial owners by reporting entities, provided that the reporting is carried out by 01.04.2020.
Increase in the amount of the administrative penalty that will be issued following the entry into force of the bill, based on the delay in fulfilling the obligation for the initial reporting of beneficial owners by reporting entities that register ex novo.
Provision of the procedure for suspending the application for a period of 30 days in the event of incomplete applications.
Removal of the penalty for the administrator in the event of failure to register the data of the beneficial owners of the reporting entities within the legal deadlines and inclusion of the value of this penalty in the penalties imposed on the reporting entities.
Starting from these essential changes, every existing reporting entity registered ex novo that has not registered within the previous deadline will have the possibility of completing the procedures provided for by Law no. 112/2022 on the registration of beneficial owners, also taking into account the additions and amendments mentioned above.