As a part of the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) initiative “Enhancing the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering framework in Slovak Republic”, the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) is currently supporting the Slovak Republic in their efforts to improve its Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) Register and its related controls.
To that end, the EECD organised with the participation of the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM - European Commission) a multi-agency Workshop on 10 June 2022 with representatives from different Slovak institutions (Ministry of Interior, Financial Intelligence Unit of Police Presidium and National Centre for Special Types of Crime of the Presidium of the Police Force, Ministry of Justice, National Bank of Slovakia and Ministry of Finance).
As a first stage within this supporting process, a Council of Europe´s expert reviewed the primary and secondary rules on beneficial ownership (BO) that exist in the country. Following this review, the expert prepared a technical paper with the main findings of the review and included recommendations for improvement (including UBO control mechanisms).
The debate revolved around four main questions: which is the most suitable body and the most suitable method for UBO control (centralised, mixed or decentralised)?; what are the implications and scope of the data implementation of a potential dual mechanism of control?; what should be the institutional setup and procedures for initial controls/checks and subsequent controls of the BO registration?; who should be held liable for failure to respect the requirements for BO registration and the related sanctions?
The main findings and recommendations of the review were presented to the aforementioned representatives during this multi-agency workshop which was held in online format. The event provided an opportunity to gather information on the effectiveness and shortcomings of the Register and further discuss possible improvements of the Slovak UBO Register.
The activity was organised within the framework of the Technical Support Instrument project “Enhancing the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering framework in Slovak Republic” funded by the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.