In contributing to the international on-going efforts to enable countries to access and share reliable beneficial ownership information, the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the European Union, organised an international Conference on Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency on 24 – 25 June 2021.

The availability of accurate and up-to-date information on the natural persons who control a company is instrumental in strengthening the integrity of governance, in combating money laundering and in fighting terrorist financing. In this regard, the beneficial ownership registers are powerful tools to enhance transparency. Participants in the event had the opportunity to discuss with expert panelists, among others, on: How are these registries of ultimate beneficial owners set up? What is their legal framework? How are they managed? Who can access them?

The sessions were led by renown international experts and pioneering practitioners from more than 10 jurisdictions. Simultaneously interpretation was provided into the following languages: Albanian, Macedonian, Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin, Russian and Turkish.

The event was hosted by the joint Action Against Economic Crime in South East Europe and Turkey in the framework of the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019, and the joint project Strengthening Measures to Prevent and Combat Economic Crime in the Eastern Partnership Countries in the framework of the Partnership for Good Governance. These projects are funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.