TIRANA, July 20 – From January 2021, all owners of entities that do not register the data in the register of beneficiary owners will be fined for violations with a fine from 150 thousand to 500 thousand ALL. The draft law approved by the government has been submitted to the Parliament for approval, which stipulates the creation of a data register, which will be administered by the National Business Center and will serve as an official electronic archive and will ensure transparency in the field of beneficial owners.
The register will also reveal the names of the beneficial owners of companies registered in fiscal havens (offshore) with activity in Albania, who own at least 25% of the shares. Albania so far does not have a mechanism to identify who are the real beneficiary owners of the entities registered in it. For this reason, as well as given that the establishment of a register which will make possible the registration of real beneficiary owners, has been one of the recommendations of MONEYVAL for Albania.
This draft law stipulates that existing reporting entities must, no later than 30 calendar days from the entry into force of the draft, identify the beneficiary owners, as well as create and maintain relevant documents for the beneficiary owners. The Ministry of Finance and Economy and NAIS will establish the Register of Beneficiary Owners no later than January 3, 2021. Existing reporting entities must register the data required by this draft law for their beneficiary owners no later than 60 calendar days from the establishment of the Register of Beneficiary Owners.
