Today (April 10, 2024) the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (“TAR”), in six judgments (6837, 6839, 6840, 6841, 6844, 6845) delivered its opinion on the Register of beneficial owners referred to in Article 21, paragraph 3, of Legislative Decree No. 231/2007, rejecting all petitions which had been filed by some fiduciary management companies which alleged the illegitimacy of the inclusion of fiduciary mandates among the entities obliged to register in the register of beneficial owners.
In the aforementioned judgments, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court clearly affirmed that fiduciary management companies (“società fiduciarie”) are also entities obliged to register in the register of beneficial owners given the concealing effect that such mandates can produce, presenting similar criticalities to trusts. Indeed, the TAR continues, there is no doubt that in the case of fiduciary management companies there is a registration of assets in favor of a person other than the beneficial owner, and this is sufficient to integrate that situation of opacity that AML regulations aim to counter.
While the aforementioned rulings will be probably appealed before the Council of State, it is now necessary to understand in what manner the process of registration in the Register of beneficial owners (which had been suspended, precisely as a result of the TAR order, a few days before the December 11 2023 deadline) will now resume.
It would seem improbable that the 60-day period – practically ended at the time of the abovementioned suspension ordered by the TAR – could now start running again, since in that case there would be very few days left for compliance. It is hoped that the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy will soon identify an appropriate deadline within which companies that have not yet done so can make the filing.