Hoewel het concept van registratie van ‘uiteindelijk belanghebbenden’ (ubo’s) van rechtspersonen en andere entiteiten uit de Amerikaanse koker komt, onder meer via hun rol in FATF, is men er in de VS niet altijd even enthousiast over.
Dat blijkt uit recente ontwikkelingen in de VS, waar regels inzake ubo-registratie (Corporate Transparency Act, ‘CTA’) recent zijn ingevoerd (geen openbaar toegankelijk register, overigens).

Treasury schort handhaving op
Op 3 maart jl. kondigde Treasury aan dat de handhaving van de ubo-verplichtingen van binnenlandse entiteiten wordt opgeschort, in het bericht Treasury Department Announces Suspension of Enforcement of Corporate Transparency Act Against U.S. Citizens and Domestic Reporting Companies. Daarin schrijft Treasury:

Treasury Department Announces Suspension of Enforcement of Corporate Transparency Act Against U.S. Citizens and Domestic Reporting Companies

March 2, 2025

The Treasury Department is announcing today that, with respect to the Corporate Transparency Act, not only will it not enforce any penalties or fines associated with the beneficial ownership information reporting rule under the existing regulatory deadlines, but it will further not enforce any penalties or fines against U.S. citizens or domestic reporting companies or their beneficial owners after the forthcoming rule changes take effect either. The Treasury Department will further be issuing a proposed rulemaking that will narrow the scope of the rule to foreign reporting companies only. Treasury takes this step in the interest of supporting hard-working American taxpayers and small businesses and ensuring that the rule is appropriately tailored to advance the public interest.
“This is a victory for common sense,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  “Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.”

Zoals gebruikelijk voor de VS, gelden grondrechten alleen voor eigen burgers en niet voor de rest van de wereld.

Rechterlijke uitspraak
Overigens wordt in de VS driftig geprocedeerd tegen de ubo-registratieplicht. Ik heb daar geen overzicht van, maar werd wel geattendeerd op deze uitspraak door Federal Judge Robert Jonker, waarin hij in zijn conclusie George Orwell’s 1984 noemt:

CONCLUSION
The Constitution generally, and the Bill of Rights in particular, are all about protecting citizens from the power of government. Governmental power has a natural tendency to expand and encroach on the freedom and privacy of citizens. That is true even when the government is pursuing goals—like crime investigation and prevention—that are worthy and important. The Fourth Amendment is one of the key limits on government power that protects the legitimate privacy interests of citizens from unreasonable government intrusion. In Orwell’s 1984, “Big Brother” had omnipresent telescreens everywhere—including every citizen’s living room—that made sure nothing beyond a smuggled, hand-written diary was truly private. The CTA doesn’t go that far, to be sure, but it’s a step in that direction. It compels citizens to disclose private information they are not required to disclose anywhere else just so the government can sit on a massive database to satisfy future law enforcement requests. It does so at a cost of billions of dollars to the citizens least likely to afford it. It amounts to an unreasonable search prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.

Het is de vraag of Europa nog mee kan werken aan dit soort transparantieregels als de VS ze aan hun laars lapt.

(Een en ander los van de andere bezwaren tegen het ubo-fenomeen, als de te brede definitie, de gegevensbeschermingsrisico’s en de afschrikwekkende bureaucratie terwijl het nut van de misdaadbestrijding niet is gebleken.)