Ministerstvo spravedlnosti znepřístupní veřejnosti ESM

The Ministry of Justice has announced that, starting December 17, 2025, the Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO Register) will be restricted from public access. This decision follows a series of rulings in which the Court of Justice of the EU, and subsequently the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, concluded that the existing model of the register—allowing anyone to view data on the ultimate beneficial owners of Czech companies or trusts online—was in violation of Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The unrestricted and blanket access for the public was deemed an excessive interference with the right to privacy and the protection of personal data.

Following the decisions of the EU Court of Justice and Czech courts, it became impossible to enforce sanctions for non-compliance with the reporting obligation in its original form, as the state could not require the publication of data whose automatic public availability contradicted fundamental rights under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. This created a period of legal uncertainty regarding the extent to which obligations under the Act on the UBO Register could still be enforced.

After the closure of the register, full access will be retained only for selected entities, namely reporting persons through data boxes, public authorities fulfilling their legal tasks, obligated entities under the AML Act (such as banks, notaries, or attorneys), and other institutions as specified by law. Access will occur either upon request or through login via the Unified Identity Space. The Ministry has declared that it will simultaneously simplify the process of establishing remote access so that obligated entities can fulfill their legal obligations without delay.

The Ministry is also preparing an amendment to the Act on the UBO Register, which aims to introduce a system of access based on "legitimate interest" and transpose the new wording of the European AML Directive into Czech law.

In its press release, the Ministry stated that the closure of the register also removes the obstacle to the resumption of enforcement of private law consequences associated with non-compliance with the obligations under the Act on the UBO Register. This means that restrictions such as the prohibition of profit or liquidation balance distributions or the suspension of voting rights will again apply if the reporting person does not ensure the registration of the beneficial owner. By closing public access, the period of uncertainty that followed the decisions of both highest Czech courts regarding the practical functioning of the register comes to an end.

Authors:

Dalibor Šimeček

Dominik Záliš

Tomáš Černý