Caution with bridging aid: Reclaiming and fines for non-entry in the transparency register

The Transparency Register and Financial Information Act (TraFinG) came into force on 01.08.2021. The TraFinG makes reporting to the transparency register mandatory for all companies - even for companies that were previously not required to report to the transparency register. The transparency register thus becomes a so-called full register.

The reporting obligation therefore also applies to companies for which the required information can be obtained from other registers, such as the commercial register - in these case groups, the reporting obligation was previously deemed to have been fulfilled and the companies therefore did not have to report to the transparency register. Under the TraFinG, these companies must now also identify their beneficial owners and report them to the Transparency Register. The following information must be provided:

• first and last name, date of birth, place of residence, type and scope of economic interest and all nationalities.

In principle, a beneficial owner is any natural person who directly or indirectly holds more than 25% of the capital shares or voting rights of a company or exercises control over the company in question in a comparable manner. If there is no such person in the case of an AG or GmbH, the members of the Management Board or management are generally so-called fictitious beneficial owners.

The following transitional periods are to apply to companies or associations that are required to report for the first time as a result of the amendment to the law, within which the beneficial owner must be notified to the Transparency Register:

Companies that are newly established after the TraFinG comes into force (01.08.2021) do not benefit from the transitional provisions and must report their beneficial owners to the Transparency Register immediately after establishment.

All entries in the transparency register must then be kept up to date at all times by means of change notifications.

Particularly important! - When applying for all bridging assistance, it is a prerequisite for this to be granted that an entry has been made in the transparency register.

For this reason, too, I would ask you to make the entry in the transparency register immediately (if this has not already been done)!

I would like to point out once again that failure to register is subject to fines and will result in all bridging assistance being reclaimed!

If you have any questions about this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.