On 1 November 2022, the Implementation Act concerning the registration of beneficial owners of trusts and similar legal arrangements (Implementatiewet registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van trusts en soortgelijke juridische constructies, the Implementation Act) entered into force. The Implementation Act implements Article 31 of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive and introduces a central beneficial ownership register for trusts and similar legal arrangements (the UBO Register).

In the Netherlands the most relevant similar legal arrangement is the fund for joint account (fonds voor gemene rekening, FGR). FGRs are therefore required to register their ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) in the UBO register. FGRs which are ‘offered’ to more than 150 persons and are managed by a fund manager with a licence pursuant to the Act on the Financial Supervision (Wet op het financieel toezicht, the AFS) are able to benefit from an exception to the requirement to register their UBO(s) and will only need to register the group of individuals in whose interests the FGR is primarily established/operated (instead of the individual participants/investors).

The Impementation Act provides for a transition period of three months, which means that trusts and similar legal constructions should register their UBOs ultimately by 1 February 2022.