With the onset of the new year from 16.01.2024, a legislative change come into force that affects persons performing activities under Art. 4, item 16. Who are these persons?
These are persons who, by occupation, provide:
a) management address, correspondence address, office and/or other similar services for the purposes of registration and/or functioning of a legal entity or other legal formation;
b) services for establishing, registering, organizing the activity and/or managing a merchant or other legal entity or other legal formations;
c) fiduciary management services for property or person under letter b), including:
aa) serving as or organizing the serving by another person of the position of director, secretary, associate or other similar position in a legal person or other legal entity;
bb) serving as or organizing the serving by another person of the position of trusted owner – in the case of trusts, custodian funds and other similar foreign legal entities established and existing under the jurisdictions allowing such forms of property;
cc) serving as or organizing the serving by another person of the position of a nominal shareholder in a third non-resident legal person or other legal entity other than a company whose shares are traded on a regulated market to which disclosure requirements apply in accordance with European Union law or equivalent international standards;
According to the latest amendments to the law, these persons are obliged to be registered in a public electronic register managed by the Minister of Justice.
In order to be entered in the register, the persons carrying out activities under Art. 4, item 16 by occupation, or their authorized representatives, must submit a written application to the Minister of Justice. At present, there is no information about the adoption of an ordinance regulating this procedure, nor about the creation of a register at the Ministry of Justice.
Entry into the register requires the provision of the following data:
- For natural persons – names, country of permanent residence and address of activity.
- For legal entities – uniform identification code, name, legal organizational form, headquarters and address of management, as well as address of implementation of the activity under Art. 4, item 16, names of the legal representative.
- The activities under Art. 4, item 16, which the person performs by occupation.
Persons entered in the register have the obligation to notify the Minister of Justice of any change in circumstances within 14 days of their occurrence. Also, the deletion of the registration in the register can be done at the request of the person upon termination of the activity that is the reason for the entry.
The procedures for entering and deleting the circumstances in the register are carried out within 14 working days from the submission of the relevant application and accompanying documents.
In case of violation of this requirement, under the AMLA, persons are subject to administrative criminal liability in the following amounts:
- a fine of BGN 1,000 to BGN 10,000, when the offender is a natural person;
- a pecuniary penalty from BGN 2,000 to BGN 20,000, when the offender is a legal entity or a sole trader;
- a pecuniary penalty of BGN 5,000 to BGN 50,000, when the offender belongs to a certain category of obliged persons;
In the event of a repeated violation, the penalties are higher and vary between BGN 2,000 and BGN 200,000. For serious or systematic violations, the penalty ranges from 5000 to
BGN 10,000,000 or up to 10 percent of the annual turnover, including the gross income according to the consolidated statement of the final parent company for the previous year, consisting of interest receivables and other similar income, income from shares and other securities with variable or fixed yield and receivables from commissions and/or fees.