Transparency Register: Revision at EU Level and Tightened Reporting Obligations

The transparency register (Transparenzregister), introduced essentially in §§ 18–26a of the German Anti-Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz, GwG), is being revised and harmonised at EU level. It will then be kept as a "central register", but will not replace the familiar commercial registers. Its fundamental purpose is the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. It records the legal owners but, above all, the natural person who is ultimately the beneficial owner of a company and who may differ from the legal owner. Tax law recognises a similar distinction. Since 1 January 2026, authorities and notaries have been required under § 23b GwG to report without undue delay any discrepancies between the real estate information accessible in the transparency register and their own findings. From mid-2027, the current threshold for control of an economic entity by a natural person will be lowered to 25 %, and the reporting obligations will be tightened generally. The data protection problem of the register being open to inspection by anyone has been defused by the introduction of § 23(1) sentence 1 no. 3 GwG. Proof of a legitimate interest is now required for this.