The Council of Europe supported exchange of experience and evolving trends on the issue of transparency of Beneficial Ownership (BO) of legal persons and legal arrangements in the southern Mediterranean. The regional workshop took place online on 30 March 2022 and brought together representatives of Financial Intelligence Units, Anti-Corruption authorities, central banks, BO Registers, relevant ministries / central institutions and tax authorities from the southern Mediterranean beneficiary jurisdictions (Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine**).

This regional workshop served as a forum to discuss the experiences, good practices, challenges as well as the evolving trends introduced in the legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks of participating jurisdictions.

Participants could benefit but also exchange inter alia on:
i) legal and regulatory mechanisms in establishing an effective system of transparency of beneficial ownership;
ii) cross-border cooperation and information exchange; and
iii) verification of BO registers, supervision and enforcement measures.
The event also included an overview of comparative practices in implementation of measures to increase transparency of beneficial ownership in European countries and beyond.

The activity was organised in the framework of the project “Promotion of Good Governance: Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering” (SNAC 4) under the joint EU / Council of Europe Programme “Regional Support to Reinforce Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy in the Southern Mediterranean” (South Programme IV).