Article 51 Identification of beneficial owners for legal entities

This is a foundational article that establishes the core definition of who qualifies as a "beneficial owner" of a legal entity.

It sets out two distinct routes through which a natural person can be considered a beneficial owner: by holding an ownership interest in the entity, or by exercising control over it.

Crucially, this article builds directly into the broader beneficial ownership transparency framework of the regulation, feeding into subsequent articles that elaborate on thresholds, specific entity types, and registration obligations.

Important points:

• Beneficial owners are natural persons who hold an ownership interest or exercise control over a legal entity, either directly or indirectly.
• Control via other means must be assessed independently of ownership interest — the two routes run in parallel and are not mutually exclusive.
• This article is a foundational definition that underpins the beneficial ownership obligations applied to legal entities throughout the regulation.