Procedures

The beneficial owner is the natural person(s) who effectively and ultimately owns or controls a legal person or legal arrangement, or the natural person on whose behalf transactions are being conducted. It also includes any person who exercises ultimate and effective control over a legal person or legal arrangement.

All commercial companies stipulated in Article 4 of the Commercial Companies Law are obligated to declare the beneficial owner except for:

Particular partnership company since it does not enjoy legal personhood and is not subject to any of the procedures of declaration
Company listed in a stock exchange or a subsidiary in which it holds a controlling interest (Article 1 of the Implementing Regulations of the Unified Economic Register Law).
State-owned company, or company wholly owned by other public authorities or institutions or in which they hold a controlling interest (Article 1 of the Implementing Regulations of the Unified Economic Register Law).
Pursuant to law No. (1) of 2020 on the Unified Economic Register, any application for license, registration, amendment or renewal shall be accompanied with the declaration of the beneficial owner according to the form prepared by the Commercial Registration and Licenses Department (download the form). None of the aforementioned applications shall be accepted unless it is complete and accompanied with the declaration of the beneficial owner.

The beneficial owner(s) of the commercial companies shall be identified as follows:

• A natural person (s) who directly or indirectly, owns a controlling ownership interest equivalent to or greater than 20% of the company’s capital or voting rights.
• Where no beneficial owner is identified, or where there is doubt as to whether the natural person(s) with the controlling ownership interest is the beneficial owner under (a) above, or where no natural person exerts control through ownership interests or voting rights, the Economic Establishment shall identify the natural person (s) exercising de facto or legal control over the Establishment through any means, whether directly or indirectly, over the executives, the General Assembly, or the operations of the Economic Establishment, by identifying the content of the decisions adopted by the General Assembly due to the voting rights they dispose of or for being a shareholder or partner, with the power to appoint or remove the majority of the members of the management, operate or control the Economic Establishment, or any other control instruments.
• Where no beneficial owner is identified under (a) or (b) above, the beneficial owner shall be the natural person who holds the capacity of legal representation of the Economic Establishment in conformity with the regulating enforceable legislation.
• The company is obligated to keep a special record of the required information on the beneficial owners, including their identities and the required information about them, and to submit a copy of it to the Commercial Registration and Licenses Department within a period not exceeding ten days from the date of submitting the application (registration, amendment, or renewal).
• The company is committed to updating the required information about the beneficial owner and informing the Registration and Commercial Licenses Department of all changes that occur to it according to the form prepared by the administration (download the form of amendment of the real beneficiary data).