Proposal for a directive
Article 16 b (new)
Article 16b Access to beneficial ownership information of relevant high value goods and assets 1. Member States shall provide competent authorities with direct, unrestricted and immediate access to information which allows the identification of any natural or legal person, and the beneficial owners thereof, including where the legal person is a foreign legal entity or arrangement owning the following relevant high value goods or assets: (a) tangible assets such as watercrafts, aircrafts, motor vehicles, precious metals and stones and jewellery, works of art and other cultural goods, including virtual ones; (b) intangible assets such as financial and insurance products and crypto-assets. 2. Member States shall ensure that information referred to in paragraph 1 is available to competent authorities, either through registers or electronic data retrieval systems, which should ensure that the data is available in machine- readable format and interoperability. FIUs shall be granted direct and immediate access to the registers and information referred to in the first and second paragraph. 3. Member States shall also ensure that where the market value of goods referred to in paragraph 1 is stated or estimated above EUR 1 000 000 or the equivalent in national currency, the information referring to purchase contract, which should include at least the identification of parties involved in the transaction, means of payment and the source of funds is included and available in the register or electronic data retrieval system referred to in paragraph 2, and can be provided to competent authorities without delay. 4. By [3 months after the date of transposition of this Directive], Member States shall notify the Commission the list of competent authorities that were granted access to the registers or systems referred to in paragraph 2 and the type of information available to them. Member States shall update such notification when changes to the list of competent authorities or to the extent of access to information granted occurs. The Commission shall make that information, including any change to it, available to the other Member States. 5. By [2 years after the date of entry into force of this Directive], AMLA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards and submit them to the Commission for adoption. Those draft regulatory technical standards shall lay down a list of specific high-value assets. The Commission is empowered to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in this Article in accordance with Article 43 of Regulation [please insert reference –proposal for establishment of an Anti-Money Laundering Authority - COM/2021/421final]. 6. The registers or electronic data retrieval systems referred to in paragraph 2 shall be interconnected via the European Asset Data (EAD) single access point to be developed and operated by the Commission by [4 years after the date of entry into force of this Directive]. The Commission is empowered to adopt, by means of implementing acts, the technical specifications and procedures for the connection of the Member States' registers to the single access point. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 54(2). 7. Where national law of Member States already provides for specific procedures for the registration of acquisition or ownership of specific relevant high value goods or assets, including through registers or data retrieval systems, Member States may leave those procedures and systems in place, provided that beneficial ownership information is available in equivalent terms as those laid down in this Article.