Declaration of beneficial owners of the business

Verified 19 June 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

At the time of registration, a business must indicate the natural person or persons who hold or control a business: beneficial owners. All information on these beneficial owners shall be centralized in the beneficial ownership register (EHR). Access to this information is now restricted to certain individuals or authorities.

Beneficial Owner (BE) means the natural person, partner or shareholder, which meets one of the following conditions:

  • It holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% voting rights or capital of the business.
  • It exercises supervisory powers over the latter by any other means (e.g. can appoint or remove a majority of the members of the management bodies).

If one of these conditions is not met, the beneficial owner is the legal representative of the business (manager, president, etc.). Where the legal representative of the business is a legal person, the beneficial owner shall be the natural person or persons legally representing that business.

Infograft provides a pattern to facilitate the identification of beneficial owners.

The entities covered by this statement are:

  • Businesses commercial (SARL, SA, SAS, etc.) and businesses civilian (SCI, SEL, etc.) having their registered office in France
  • Economic interest groups (EIGs) having their registered office in France
  • Commercial businesses whose registered office is abroad and which have an establishment in France
  • Other entities subject to registration requirements in the SCR: titleContent and the RNE: titleContent (collective investment undertaking, endowment fund, etc.).

The identity of the beneficial owners of a business must be indicated at the time of registration. In the event of a change in the beneficial owner (e.g. change of address), a request for an amended registration must be made at the companies formalities office.

Registration of the business

Beneficial owners must be declared at the time of registration of the business.

They must be indicated under the heading “beneficial ownership” by clicking on “add beneficial ownership”.

The type of control exercised for each beneficial owner must be specified. If the control is ‘holding more than 25 % of the capital’ or ‘holding 25 % of the voting right’, the percentage of capital and/or the percentage of voting right held must be specified.

Company Formalities Window

This approach is not free, it costs about €23.

The following information shall be entered in the registration declaration:

  • Concerning the business :
    • Name or business name
    • Legal form
    • Address of registered office
    • Optionally, the unique identification number.
  • Concerning each beneficial owner :
    • Name, surname, pseudonym, first names
    • Date and place of birth
    • Nationality
    • Personal Address
    • Nature and methods of control over the business and extent of such control
    • Date on which he became beneficial owner of the business.
Request for Amending Registration

One request for amending registration must be made as soon as there is a change in beneficial ownership: change of address after a move, change of name following a marriage, arrival of a new beneficiary, etc.

This request for amending registration must be made within 30 days of the change.

The request must be made by the representative business (e.g. the manager) online on the company formalities window site.

Company Formalities Window

This approach is not free, it costs about €45.

The following information shall be provided:

  • Concerning the business :
    • Name or business name
    • Legal form
    • Address of registered office
    • Where applicable, the unique identification number.
  • Concerning each beneficial owner :
    • Name, surname, pseudonym, first names
    • Date and place of birth, nationality
    • Personal Address
    • Nature and methods of control over the business and extent of such control
    • Date on which he became beneficial owner of the business.

The Registry of beneficial owners (RBE) is no longer open to the general public.

The identity of the beneficial owners of a business now requires proof of a legitimate interest in combating money laundering or terrorist financing.

Certain supervisory authorities (judicial authorities, public finance officers, police and gendarmerie, etc.) may have full access to the register of beneficial owners in the course of their duties.

Limited access for persons with a legitimate interest

Persons or entities with a ‘legitimate interest’ in the fight against money laundering may access the beneficial ownership register.

The list of such persons and entities shall be specified by law. She quotes in particular:

  • Natural or legal persons in a business relationship with a business, where there is a risk to financial transparency. In this case, it is possible to obtain the information for the beneficial owners of this business.
  • Businesses and their officers bound by obligations to combat corruption or influence peddling
  • Sub-contractors of persons required to exercise vigilance in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (banks, notaries, lawyers, insurers...)
  • Members of Parliament
  • Journalists
  • Non-profit organizations
  • University researchers
  • Purchasers and licensing authorities for beneficial owners of tenderers
  • Government or local authorities and their public institutions, Mixed Economy businesses (SEMs), National Audit Authority for EU funds (as regards beneficial ownership)

The information available shall be limited to the following: name, surname, pseudonym, given names, month, year of birth, country of residence and nationality of the beneficial owners and nature and extent of the interests they hold in the business.

The contents of the register shall remain confidential. The identity of the beneficial owners cannot therefore be disclosed to third parties (i.e. outside persons). However, journalists, academic researchers or non-profit organizations are allowed to do so when third parties have an interest in knowing this information.

New conditions for access to the Registry of beneficial owners

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) - Prime Minister

Pour en savoir plus

Full access for certain individuals and authorities

Some entities may have full access to beneficial ownership information. Thus, in addition to information on marital status, they may know, in particular, personal addresses and the way in which control over business is exercised.

The list of such persons and authorities is specified by law:

  • Persons required to exercise due diligence in the fight against money laundering (e.g. accountant or lawyer)
  • Judicial authorities
  • Customs officials
  • Public Finance Officers
  • Police or national gendarmerie in the context of a judicial investigation
  • French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA)
  • Officers of the Treasury Directorate General
  • High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP)
  • European Public Prosecutor's Office
  • Court of Auditors and Regional and Territorial Chambers of Auditors
  • European Anti-Fraud Office
  • Labor inspectorate control officers and social security agency control officers
  • European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Eurojust)
  • European Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Authority.

FYI  

Where a natural person has been declared a beneficial owner of a business, he or she shall have full access to the information in the beneficial ownership register concerning this business.

A company wishing to consult the beneficial ownership register (RBE) may contact either the Inpi or the Commercial Court Registry.

The request for access to the RBE information is free of charge.

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Request for access to the RBE at the Inpi via the one-stop shop

To access the EHR, the following steps must be followed:

  • Download, complete and sign a request form for access to beneficial ownership data

Request for access to the Registry of beneficial owners (RBE) at Inpi

The Inpi shall examine the request for access to the register of beneficial owners on the basis of the information provided and the supporting documents provided. It shall accept or reject the request for access.

Request for access to the RBE at the Commercial Court Registry

To complete the access request, the following steps must be followed:

  • Complete and sign the access request form
  • Provide a supporting document which varies depending on the person requesting access (mentioned in the access request form)

If the beneficial owners have not been declared or if the information declared is false or incomplete, the President of the Commercial Court or the Registrar of the Commercial Court may request the business to regularize the situation.

This regularization must take place within 3 months following the order of the President of the Court or the formal notice of the Registrar of the Tribunal.

In the absence of regularization, the President of the Tribunal may cancel ex officio the business of SCR: titleContent . The legal representative of the business (or the person responsible for carrying out registration formalities) shall be liable to a fine of €7,500 and six months in prison. The legal representative is also subject to a management ban (maximum 15 years) and partial deprivation of his civil and civic.

FYI  

Those penalties shall also apply to the beneficial owner who refuses to communicate the information necessary for his declaration. He also faces a management ban and partial deprivation of his civil and civil rights.

When the business, legal person, is found criminally liable, and is liable to a fine of up to 5 times the amount of the fine due by the legal representative, which is a maximum of €37,500. Business, legal personmay also be sentenced to one or more of the following penalties:

  • Dissolution of the business
  • Placement under judicial supervision for up to 5 years
  • One, several or all establishments of the business are closed permanently or for a maximum of 5 years
  • Exclusion from public contracts definitively or for a maximum period of 5 years
  • Definitive or up to 5-year ban on making an offer to the public of securities or going public
  • Prohibition for up to 5 years to issue checks to those who are certified or to use payment cards 
  • Posting of the decision delivered or distribution of it in the written press.