Italian authorities have restored regular access to the beneficial ownership register, which had been restricted following a European Court of Justice ruling on privacy, but under new conditions. This was reported by the Quotidianopiu portal.
What beneficial ownership is and why it needs to be monitored
Authorities in various countries have been concerned with controlling the real owners of businesses for several centuries. Criminals, corrupt officials, and entrepreneurs seeking to evade taxes or secretly transact with partners often used front persons and shell companies.
This topic has been widely depicted in popular culture, for example in the novels The Golden Calf by Ilf and Petrov and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
In real life, it is crucial for tax and law enforcement authorities, business partners, tender committees, courts, lawyers, notaries, and anti-corruption organizations to know which individual actually controls a company.
The concept of “beneficial owner” began to be applied in international taxation in the 1940s (under the 1942 US-Canada Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement). It was later adopted by the United Kingdom, which concluded similar agreements with a number of countries.
A beneficial owner is a person who directly or indirectly owns a company or exerts significant influence over its decisions. The ultimate real owner may not be listed in the company’s founding documents and may not hold the company’s securities directly. The forms of control can vary widely, but the person remains the true beneficiary.
In the second half of the 20th century, the issue of beneficial ownership became particularly acute. Following the collapse of colonial empires and the redistribution of global wealth, many new states and self-governing territories with limited resources earned revenue by offering foreigners the right to register companies anonymously.
These companies either paid minimal taxes at their place of registration or were entirely exempt, limited to fixed fees. Later, such firms acted as “foreign investors” in the countries where the beneficiaries actually conducted business, avoiding local taxes. Similar schemes were used by organized crime groups and corrupt officials.
Resource-rich countries began losing substantial sums due to this “tax optimization,” prompting them to initiate the creation of international organizations to combat money laundering and fiscal violations.
In 2012, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) adopted a new package of recommendations, including Recommendation 24, which addressed “transparency and beneficial ownership of legal entities.” Since 2020, FATF experts have been developing amendments to strengthen the requirements of this recommendation.
In 2022, these measures were officially adopted. The FATF required all countries to prevent the misuse of legal entities for money laundering and terrorist financing. To achieve this, authorities must collect information on company control and beneficial ownership and provide access to “competent” bodies.
For a long time, the European Union was the most active region in promoting corporate transparency. EU regulations required companies to disclose information about their beneficial owners and make it available in public registers accessible to anyone. However, this approach sparked public debate, as detailed information about business owners made them vulnerable to extortion and fraud.
In 2022, the European Court of Justice, responding to a lawsuit from an entrepreneur in Luxembourg, annulled the EU requirement to publish beneficial ownership data. The Court cited the need to protect privacy and personal life as its justification.
EU member states began gradually restricting access to their beneficial ownership registers and seeking a legal balance between corporate transparency and the protection of individual rights of business owners.
What access to the beneficial ownership register will look like in Italy
In January 2026, changes to Italy’s legislation on access to the beneficial ownership register came into effect, adopted at the end of 2025. Article 21 of Legislative Decree 231/2007 (the so-called “AML Decree”), a cornerstone of Italy’s legal framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, was amended.
The changes were introduced by the legislative decree of 4 December 2025, approved by the Council of Ministers under Article 74 of EU Directive 2024/1640, and by Law 182/2025, published in the Official Gazette on 3 December 2025. The updates to Italy’s national regulations were necessary to comply with the 2022 European Court of Justice ruling limiting access to beneficial ownership registers and to implement new EU directives, which shift from a “general” access model to a “selective and justified” access scheme.
The EU effectively tasked Italian authorities with finding a balance between corporate transparency and the protection of personal data. The results of the Italian legislators’ work were approved by the Data Protection Authority.
Previously, Italian law granted the public “non-selective” access to information about beneficial owners of legal entities, subject to the payment of a fee.
Now everything has changed. The new approach provides access only to individuals who can demonstrate a “significant” and “differentiated” legal interest, and only when the requested information is necessary to resolve a legally meaningful situation.
Additionally, access can be granted when there is documented evidence of a discrepancy between legal ownership and beneficial ownership.
Access to the beneficial ownership register is no longer a widely available tool for corporate transparency; it has become a mechanism to address specific legal risks and protect legitimate interests.
The burden of proving the legitimacy of the interest lies with the applicant. The request must be supported by documentary evidence demonstrating the existence of a relevant issue.
Furthermore, the recent changes clarify the grounds for access by government administrative bodies. Access may relate to permitting and concession procedures, contractor selection, allocation of grants, subsidies, and financial assistance. These requests are aimed at preventing corruption. The requirements for “differentiated” interest do not apply to officials, as the legitimacy of their requests stems from their institutional functions.
Italy now has four levels of access to beneficial ownership registers, categorized by entity:
- Competent authorities (law enforcement and specialized agencies) with unrestricted access;
- Government bodies with functional access;
- Private entities that have demonstrated a legitimate interest, with differentiated access;
- Entities protecting the public interest, granted differentiated access following an additional review of the legitimacy of their request.
Italy is transitioning from a system of full corporate transparency to a selective model, where access to the beneficial ownership register varies depending on the intended purpose.
Experts have expressed concern that such a sensitive function as determining the legitimacy of access has now been entrusted to chambers of commerce. They argue that this practice could lead to uneven access to registers depending on the region.
At the same time, legal professionals note a positive aspect of the recent changes: Italian legislators now show greater respect for the protection of citizens’ privacy.
What is a commercial register?
In our video, we explain what a commercial register is and how you can check your business partner.
If you need to verify your foreign business partner, contact Schmidt & Schmidt.
We provide extracts from commercial registers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
