Judgment of the Court of Justice Grand Chamber, 22 November 2022, WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers, Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20
| Date | 22 November 2022 |
| Year | 2022 |
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IX. JUDGMENTS PREVIOUSLY DELIVERED
1. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS: PRINCIPLES AND FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHTS ENSHRINED IN THE CHARTER
Judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber), 22 November 2022, WM and Sovim SA v
Luxembourg Business Registers, Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20
Link to the full text of the judgment
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of
money laundering or terrorist financing – Directive (EU) 2018/843 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 –
Amendment to Article 30(5), first subparagraph, point (c), of Directive 2015/849 – Access for any member
of the general public to the information on beneficial ownership – Validity – Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Respect for private and family life – Protection of personal
data
For the purposes of combating and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, the anti-
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requires Member States to keep a register containing i nformation on
the beneficial ownership
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of companies and of other legal entities incorporated within their territory.
Following an amendment of that directive by Directive 2018/843,
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some of that information must be
made accessible in all cases to any member of the general public. In accordance with the anti-money-
laundering directive as thus amended (‘the amended anti-money-laundering directive’), Luxembourg
legislation
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established a Register of Beneficial Ownership (RBO) designed to retain and make
available a series of information on the beneficial ownership of registered entities, access to which is
open to any person.
In that context, the tribunal d’arrondissement de Luxembourg (Luxembourg District Court) was seised
of two actions, brought by WM and Sovim SA, respectively, challenging the rejection by Luxembourg
Business Registers, the administrator of the RBO, of their applications seeking to preclude the general
public’s access to information relating, in the first case, to WM as the beneficial owner of a real estate
company and, in the second case, to the beneficial owner of Sovim SA. In those two cases, since it had
doubts in particular as to the validity of the provisions of EU law establishing the system of public
access to information relating to beneficial ownership, the Tribunal d’arrondissement de Luxembourg
(Luxembourg District Court) made a reference to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on
validity.
By its judgment, the Court, sitting as the Grand Chamber, declares Directive 2018/843 invalid in so far
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Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system
for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the
Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ 2015
L 141, p. 73; ‘the anti-money-laundering directive’).
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Under Article 3(6) of the anti-money-laundering directive, beneficial owners are any natural persons who ultimately own or control the
customer and/or the natural persons on whose behalf a transaction or activity is being conducted.
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Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention
of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and
2013/36/EU (OJ 2018 L 156, p. 43).
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Loi du 13 janvier 2019 instituant un Registre des bénéficiaires effectifs (Mémorial A 2019, no 15) (Law of 13 January 2019 establishing a
Register of Beneficial Ownership).
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