Earlier in 2016 a new bill has been submitted to Russian government which provides that Russian companies will need to identify their beneficiary owners and reveal this information to government bodies.

The bill explains that a beneficiary owner means an individual who ultimately, directly or indirectly (through third parties), owns a legal entity or can control its activities. Legal entities will be accountable for:

1. Taking reasonable and currently available measures to establish information about their beneficiary owners provided for by Law No. 115-FZ (full name, citizenship, date of birth, identity document details, TIN, etc.);
2. Keep updated (at least once a year) all data of their beneficiary owners and providing supporting documentation;
3. Maintain the information for at least five years;
4. Submitting the information if requested to any authorised body of the Russian Government.

If a legal entity doesn’t achieve to meet the above duties, there will be a penalty ranging from RUB 30,000 to 40,000 for the officers and the legal entity itself will be responsible to pay a penalty ranging from RUB 100,000 to 500,000.

This new legislation regarding the disclosure of UBOs is expected to be effective 180 days upon its approval by the Russian president.