The Dutch law on Ultimate Beneficial Owners does not have to be set aside. This was decided by the Court of Appeal of The Hague today. The Privacy Foundation had demanded this in an appeal case against the Dutch State.
Legislation following the European Anti-Money Laundering Directive came into force in the Netherlands in September 2020. Among other things, that legislation requires companies to register in the trade register who their "ultimate beneficial owners" or UBOs are. These UBOs refer to the natural persons who are the ultimate beneficial owners. In doing so, a number of personal data of the UBOs must be provided. The nature and extent of the economic interest held by them must also be declared. Through the UBO register, the general public can find out this economic interest, the birth month and year, the place of residence and nationality of the UBO, but the address, the citizen service number, and the country and date of birth can only be viewed by agencies such as the Tax Office.
Privacy First is a foundation that stands up for the privacy of all citizens in the Netherlands. In these summary proceedings, the foundation claims (provisional) suspension of the UBO legislation. According to the foundation, this legislation violates UBOs' fundamental right to privacy and their right to protection of their personal data.
The preliminary injunction court rejected Privacy First's claim. The Hague Court of Appeal reached the same decision. The reason is that it has not been made plausible that the UBOs will suffer serious damage in the short term. This is a requirement to be able to (temporarily) set aside legislation based on European directives in summary proceedings. In doing so, the court took into account that a UBO, who fears that by disclosing his personal data he runs the risk of being kidnapped, extorted or the like, can immediately shield all his data from the general public. Dutch law provides for this possibility.
Privacy First prepares lawsuit against privacy-invading UBO registry
