Czech Republic: What lies ahead for the register of beneficial owners and what changes can we expect?

Main case law findings 

The UBO Register has been freely accessible to the general public – similar to the commercial register. In principle, anyone can search for basic information about the beneficial owners of entities subject to mandatory registration, including their date of birth, address of residence or nationality, at any time, without restriction and anonymously.

In its decisions,[1] the Czech Supreme Administrative Court concluded that this unrestricted access to data on beneficial owners is contrary to EU law, specifically constituting a disproportionate interference with the right to protection of private and family life and personal data under Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Currently, the UBO Register’s operations allows anyone to obtain detailed information about persons that is not normally available in the public domain. The direct consequence of complying with the obligations of the registering entity under the currently valid and effective legal regulation is therefore an interference with the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the beneficial owners of these entities.

The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic followed up on these conclusions and stated[2] that if data on beneficial owners is made available to anyone, Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prevent the application of the provisions of the Act on the Registration of Beneficial Owners (the “UBO Act”),[3] which impose an obligation to register the beneficial owner. In other words, the state cannot require or sanction (non)compliance with the obligation to register the beneficial owner in the UBO Register if it leads to an unjustified interference with fundamental rights. The Supreme Court added that a situation where no data is entered in the UBO Register cannot be considered a “discrepancy” if their registration would constitute a disproportionate interference with the rights of beneficial owners. 

Paralysis of the UBO Register and other practical consequences 

As a result of the abovementioned judicial conclusions, the sanction mechanisms provided for in the UBO Act have ceased to be applied in practice. The Czech state does not enforce the registration obligation, discrepancies in the entries and corresponding administrative offences are not addressed, and other private law sanctions (e.g. suspension of voting rights) are not applied either. Therefore, companies are not motivated to keep their registered data complete, accurate and up to date.

This raises the question of whether the UBO Register will have any significance in the future and whether companies should bother with registering and updating data at all. In this context, it is worth noting that, according to the abovementioned court rulings, failure to register the beneficial owner must continue to be regarded as unlawful conduct. Thus, what will happen to the UBO Register and mandatory data registration in the future?

Restricted access to the UBO Register and prospects for legislative changes

In response to the above-described case law, the Czech Ministry of Justice has decided to make online access to the UBO Register unavailable to the public as of 17 December 2025. After this date, access should remain available to registering entities, public authorities and obliged persons under the relevant AML regulations (e.g. banks or lawyers). Information on beneficial owners (to a limited extent) will also be available upon demonstration of a so-called legitimate interest.

An amendment to the UBO Act[4] is currently undergoing a consultation process. It aims to regulate in detail the rules for accessing information in the UBO Register based on demonstrating legitimate interest. The amendment also transposes the sixth AML Directive and is intended to provide a clearer framework for the future functioning of the UBO Register. 

What does this mean in practice for companies?

The good news is that, thanks to the UBO Register being made inaccessible, the personal data of beneficial owners will no longer be disclosed to the general public. Information on the financial circumstances of the persons concerned will also cease to be freely available. 

However, at the same time, it is expected that supervision of compliance with the obligations set out in the UBO Act, including the application of sanctions, will be reactivated. Therefore, although it cannot be ruled out that courts and notaries will temporarily pay less attention to discrepancies in the UBO Register, we recommend that companies continue to keep their records in the UBO Register up to date. The current obligations under the UBO Act will not change significantly.

Czech version available here.