Access to Information on the Beneficial Ownership of Companies: Privacy vs. Legitimate Public Interest

Description

In the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (joined cases C-37/20) the judges measured whether the access to the information on the beneficial ownership of companies incorporated within the territory of the Member States is accessible in all cases to any member of the general public is invalid. The aim of this paper is to analyse this court decision trying to find balance between the privacy of the business persons  and legitimate public interests to get information about beneficial owners of the commercial companies.. The author will use descriptive, analytical and deductive-inductive research methods in the paper. After review and analysis of the court decision, legal acts and and different articles, the author has made conclusions and recommendations.. According to the above mentioned court decision, the general public’s access to information on beneficial ownership constitutes a serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data, enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of theEuropean Union (Charter). Even more, court decided that provisions whereby Member States must ensure that the information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities incorporated within their territory is accessible in all cases to anymember of the general public is invalid.. The author concludes that Republic of Latvia must amend its domestic legislation on disclosure beneficial owners of the commercial companies in order to provide regulation in exceptional circumstances, for an exemption from access to that information by the general public. It will ensure a proper balance between the objective of general interest pursued and the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter.

Period	29 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU Research week 2023: PLACES
Event type	Conference
Conference number	3
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Rīga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International