Luxembourg limits access to its beneficial owner register and gives the registry sanctioning powers
Luxembourg's law of 23 January 2025, in force from 1 February 2025, amends the laws on the trade and companies register (RCS) and the register of beneficial owners (RBE) after the EU Court of Justice's 2022 ruling. Public access ends: the RBE is open to national authorities, AML-regulated professionals and people with a legitimate interest such as journalists and non-profit organisations. Luxembourg Business Registers can now check data and impose warnings, daily fines and administrative deregistration.
Parliament adopted bill 7961 on 19 December 2024. It responds to the EU Court of Justice's judgment of 22 November 2022, which arose from a Luxembourg case.
What changed
- RBE access: national authorities; professionals subject to AML rules, through a secure platform with every search logged; self-regulatory bodies; and people with a legitimate interest in fighting money laundering, such as professional journalists, non-profit organisations and counterparties to a transaction.
- Sensitive data: professionals cannot see a beneficial owner's full address or identification number.
- Registry powers: Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR) can require entities to file and update information, run checks, and impose sanctions from public warnings to daily fines and administrative deregistration.
- Data links: an RCS–RBE gateway and automatic updates from other national registers.
What to do
Check that each Luxembourg entity's RCS and RBE entries are complete and current, as the LBR now enforces filings directly.
Later developments
On 29 May 2026 the Luxembourg District Court referred new questions on access under the EU's sixth anti-money laundering directive to the EU Court of Justice.