Spain: Central UBO Registry established

Following the introduction of new Spanish Regulation ((Real Decreto 609/2023, de 11 de Julio), a new Central UBO Registry has been established in Spain.

The registry is a central, electronic and public registry for the whole Spanish territory, managed by the Ministry of Justice.

The main goal is to collect the information about the beneficial ownership of all Spanish legal entities (S.A., S.A.U., S.L., S.L.U. and branches of foreign companies, among others) and make this information publicly available.

The information in the Central UBO Registry includes name and last name of the person, date of birth ID/passport number, country of issuance, country of residence, nationality, email address and on what basis that person is deemed to be a UBO of the company. If the UBO is a legal person, the number of shares owned will be required as well.

Any changes in the UBO must be reported within 10 days after the company first becomes aware of the change.

The risk of non-compliance

Failure to identify the company’s UBO and provide the inform required by the Central UBO Registry could lead to the closure of the registration sheet at the Commercial Registry (article 378 of the Regulations of the Commercial Registry).