The Lithuanian law lays down a requirement for all companies operating in Lithuania, including collective investment firms, to collect, keep updated and store relevant data on their beneficial owners – their name, address, nationality, etc. For this purpose, following two years of delay, the Lithuanian business register finally launched a newly established subsystem dubbed JANGIS.
This beneficiary registry in Lithuania is a new platform collecting details on beneficiaries of the Ιnformation System of Participants in Legal Entities. All businesses are mandated by the relevant legal norms to submit data which is kept in this sub-system.
Who is a beneficial owner?
A beneficiary can be determined as one of the following persons:
- An owner who controls on their own a legal entity by holding over 25% of shares;
- An owner who controls the participant of a legal entity, which is a legal entity by holding over 25% of shares;
- An individual with the permission to appoint or remove the manager of a legal entity, to make strategic decisions.
The submission of beneficiaries’ data is implemented in several stages. From May 2022 onwards, legal entities whose beneficiaries are natural persons, directly and indirectly, owning shares and interests in a business, are required to provide the below-mentioned details to the Lithuanian business registrar.
Details to be provided
- Full name,
- Birth date,
- Personal number,
- The country, which issued the identity document,
- Address,
- Ownership rights.
Access to such data provides greater clarity and public confidence, assisting to fight the misuse of legal persons for illicit money circulation and funding terroristic groups, guarantee the clearness of the structures of beneficiaries and legal entities, and bring light to the appearance of a shadow economy in the jurisdiction.
If the data accessible to financial organizations about a beneficiary of their clients does not coincide with the data provided by JANGIS, or the last does not have the data about beneficiaries at all, relations with a such client will not be carried out. Infringement of the obligations to disclose beneficiary data is subject to punishments: a fine under the Code of Administrative Offences of 500 to 2,400 euros for individuals, and 2,100 to 6,000 euros for managers of legal persons.
All details on beneficiary owners must be provided via an e-system of the Lithuanian commercial register only.