13 December 2023
1. As responsible jurisdictions and International Finance Centres, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and
Jersey (‘the Crown Dependencies’) (‘we’) reiterate our commitment to continue our advanced
role in the shared global objective of combatting financial crime in all its forms.
2. We have a longstanding and independently verified track record of meeting international
standards. We are proud of our global leadership in tax cooperation, and in combatting money
laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. We will continue to provide
appropriate and effective transparency which can support those critical objectives.
3. We recognise the importance of access to accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership
information in countries across the globe. We each maintain high standards of accurate, up-todate and verified information in our own central beneficial ownership registers. We closely
monitor developments internationally to ensure that our own systems remain robust, effective
and in line with international standards and obligations. We have a proven and ongoing ‘good
neighbour’ policy of cooperation with the UK and the EU in matters relating to taxation and
combatting financial crime. We also assist countries around the world in those efforts. We
remain committed to contributing to, shaping and implementing global standards in those
important areas.
4. Our priority remains to continue providing effective access to up-to-date and verified beneficial
ownership information for law enforcement and tax authorities in the UK, Europe and across
the world, as has been our long-standing approach.
5. In developing our policy to enhance access to information held on our registers of beneficial
ownership, we have carefully considered recent decisions of the Court of Justice of the
European Union (‘CJEU’) and the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) about the right to
privacy and data protection issues arising from access to such information; particularly the WM
& Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Register (WM & Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Register [2022] EUR-Lex - 62020CJ0037 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)) judgment.
6. In its judgment, the CJEU acknowledged that combatting money laundering and terrorist
financing is a priority matter for public authorities and entities such as financial institutions and
that providing some access to beneficial ownership information plays an important role in that.
However, the CJEU found that providing the general public with access to information on
beneficial ownership is, for a number of reasons, not proportionate to the legitimate aim of
preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The effect of the CJEU’s ruling is that EU Member States are now only obliged to provide access to their beneficial ownership registers
to law enforcement, financial services institutions and to other persons with a legitimate
interest. The extent to which access is provided to those with a legitimate interest varies across
the EU and is currently being given further consideration by the European Commission and
Member States.
7. Having carefully considered the CJEU’s decision in WM and relevant ECtHR caselaw, the
governments of the Crown Dependencies are satisfied that it would not be compatible with the
international obligations extended to them, including those enshrined in their domestic laws,
to grant access to their beneficial ownership registers to the general public. However, the
Crown Dependencies do intend to work towards extending access to their registers having
regard to relevant developments in the EU and international best practice.
8. Paragraph 74 of the CJEU judgment in WM recognises that, in view of the content of the
relevant EU Directives, financial institutions and authorities involved in combatting offences of
money laundering or terrorist financing, together with “press and civil society organisations
that are connected with the prevention and combatting of money laundering and terrorist
financing, have a legitimate interest in accessing information on beneficial ownership”.
9. Each island’s government confirms the following actions will be undertaken to further enhance
the transparency of their central register of beneficial ownership information:
9.1 Deliver obliged entity access during 2024
We will enable access for financial services business and certain other businesses who are
required to conduct customer due diligence under our AML/CFT/CPF (anti money laundering; countering financing of terrorism; countering proliferation financing) regime (collectively
known as ‘obliged entities’). We have satisfied ourselves that it is possible to implement
obliged entity access. This access will be implemented before the end of 2024 in a manner
that puts in place appropriate safeguards to effectively manage any interference with
privacy rights. We have already undertaken substantial preparatory work to enable obliged
entity access.
9.2 Develop and deliver legitimate interest access in a leading timeframe
a) Subject to necessary approvals in the Crown Dependencies’ legislatures, we will
provide access to the information on our registers of beneficial ownership to those who
can demonstrate that they have a legitimate interest. Access will be provided in line
with international obligations extended to the Crown Dependencies, recognising that
there is a crucial balance to strike between protecting human rights and combatting
financial crime.
b) It has been noted that media and civil society organisations that have a role in
combatting financial crime, have been recognised in the EU as having a ‘legitimate
interest’ in accessing beneficial ownership information (Paragraph 74 of the CJEU
judgment is particularly pertinent for this). However, it is reported that the revised EU
position, which will be included in the EU’s Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, is
still under debate in Europe and its finalisation is critical to international practice on
“legitimate interest”.
c) Our definition of legitimate interest access to beneficial ownership information will be
developed having due regard to international good practice, including finalisation of
the EU’s Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive which is anticipated in early 2024. The
EU negotiating text for that Directive recognises groups who may have a legitimate
interest as being those conducting business transactions, civil society, journalists, law
enforcement and higher education.
d) We will present proposals to our own parliaments for agreement on the definition and
implementation of legitimate interest by Q4 2024 at the latest and will implement that
access in a reasonable timeframe.
10. These actions are to be progressed together and work is already underway. We intend to adopt
an ambitious timescale which can achieve legitimate interest access, having regard to
implementation progress across the EU Member States. Our islands will move forward
recognising that proper and effective implementation takes time and resources but that it is
important that progress is maintained.
11. This joint commitment outlines the Crown Dependencies’ shared approach on access to
registers of beneficial ownership. It provides a clear and unambiguous signal of our intent to
interested parties around the world. It replaces the commitment published by the islands in
June 2019.
13 December 2023
gov.je