On July 1, 2020, amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (Law) came into force. These amendments established a special procedure for information exchange between public authorities and entities subject to the Law, such as outsourced accountants, lawyers, insolvency administrators, and banks. Since June 1, 2020, the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia (Register) has operated a beneficial owner (BO) reporting solution. This solution allows subjects of the Law, supervisory and control authorities (SCAs), and their delegated representatives to report potentially false information regarding the BO of a legal person (client), as stipulated in Section 18, Paragraph 3.¹ of the Law. To ensure a unified approach in cases where BO information in public registers maintained by the Register is found to be false, the Register has developed guidelines for both subjects of the Law and SCAs.

The amendments to the Law and the Law On the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, which entered into force on January 1, 2024, expanded the range of entities that are obliged to submit an application to the Register for registration of information on their BOs, as well as established a new register - the register of BO of legal entities (arrangements). Since customer due diligence under the Law also applies to foreign legal entities wishing to operate in Latvia, subjects of the Law and SCAs are now obligated to report on the BO of such entities as well. However, as the technical development of the legal entity BO register is not expected to be completed until January 6, 2025, reporting through the BO reporting solution is currently unavailable. Instead, individuals with access to the solution will submit notifications to the Register according to the procedures outlined in the Law on Submissions. In the meantime, the Register will provide information on registered alerts related to legal entities to subjects of the Law and SCAs upon individual request.

Both now and in the future, you can report clerical errors found in public registers maintained by the Register. Errors will be corrected in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. Individuals can report errors by submitting a signed application through secure e-signature to the email address pasts@ur.gov.lv.

SCAs are required to inform the Register of detected clerical errors by sending information to the email address kludas@ur.gov.lv.

(!) Error should not be reported if:

• Folowing transcription or clerical errors are detected in personal data:
  • Clerical errors are detected in the transcription of personal data from a foreign language such as Jakrin and Yakrin.
  • Clerical errors are detected in the institution name that issued the personal identification document. For example, if a personal identification document was issued by the Russian Federation Service, but the name of the institution - FMC or ФMC, or the Federal Migration Service, or its name in Latvian - is registered in the Register.
• Transliteration errors or clerical errors in foreign entity data:
  • The name of the foreign entity is reproduced using the national alphabet (Slavic/Arabic, etc.), but in the register the foreign entity is registered using the Latin alphabet, for example, the Руссиан Воод is registered as Russian Vooda.
  • The information identifying the foreign subject has been registered in the Register by replacing individual letters with letters of the Latin alphabet. For example, the registered office of a foreign entity is Germany, Alsleben, Bernburger Straβe, the letter “β” is replaced by the letters “ss” or the address is reproduced in Latvian.
• Differences in personal identification document data – for example, an ID card registered in the Register regarding the BO as a personal identification document, but the subject of the Law has personal passport data at his or her disposal.
• Differences in information on the nationality of a person – for example, a natural person has dual nationality but is registered in the register with only one nationality.

(!) The Register notes that, according to Paragraph 41 of the Law's transitional provisions, if the legal person had not submitted a separate application for registration of the BO by 1 July 2019, as well as if the information regarding its BO had been submitted within the scope of other obligations laid down in the laws and regulations and the way in which the control of the legal person was exercised resulted, respectively, only from a member of the limited liability company (LLC), a member of the partnership, the status of owner of an individual merchant or member of the board of directors of a foundation, it shall be considered that the legal person has notified its BO, and the Register, without taking a separate decision, registered those persons as BO in the relevant registers.

If, as a result of the automatic registration of a BO (recorded between July 5, 2019, and July 31, 2019), the nationality/country of residence[1] of the foreign natural person is different from the actual situation, the legal person shall notify changes to the information on the BO in the Register.

As the Register automatically registered information based on the Law, it cannot alter this information on its own initiative. Legal persons themselves are responsible for registering accurate information, including that captured through automatic processes.

• Differences in personal identification data – for example, a maintenance permit in the Republic of Latvia granted to a foreign natural person has expired, as a result of which the personal identity number assigned to the person is inactive (no personal identity number), but personal identity number has been registered for the person in separate statuses (board/participant/BO).

In this case, the legal person shall apply for changes in the information regarding personal data in the Register.

• Differences in the data of the persons through whom BO exercises control over the legal person, such as the entity through which BO exercises control over the legal person, has changed its name and registered office or, for example, has been liquidated/reorganised.

In this case, the legal person must notify changes to either the BO information or, if applicable, the shareholder register.

Information on reports of inadequate information is not available to the general public.

Only subjects of the Law, SCAs, and law enforcement authorities have access to the BO reporting solution. This solution allows them to submit notifications about BOs and view registered reports. However, processing of both notifications and alerts regarding BOs of legal entities (arrangements) is currently manual, as the technical solution awaits adaptation.

^{[1] In accordance with Paragraph 42 of the transitional provisions of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing – the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall register the information on the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner as follows:}

^{1) if the person has a personal identity number, Latvia is registered as the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner;}

^{2) if the person does not have a personal identity number, the country which issued a personal identification document is registered as the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner.}