Serbia: New Law on the Central Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners
Newsletter 152
Transparency in focus
New Law on the Central Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners:
Obligation to register the documentation proving ultimate beneficial owners for all existing registered entities by 30 November 2025
On 1 October 2025, the Law on the Central Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners will start being implemented in Serbia, introducing significant changes to the process of registering of ownership structures of legal entities and other registered subjects (“registered entities”).
This legislative reform represents a step toward enhanced transparency and alignment with European standards. The primary objective is to ensure clearer identification of ultimate beneficial owners and to prevent misuse in business operations, with a particular emphasis on prevention of anti-money laundering.
By 1 October 2025, the entities being subject to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (e.g. banks) must obtain ultimate beneficial ownership data from the Central Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (“UBO”) and compare it with data collected through diligence measures under the same law. In cases of discrepancies or missing data, the entities being subject to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing must promptly notify the competent authority (e.g. the National Bank of Serbia), which is then required to publish a list of notified registered entities on its website.
Expanded scope of the registered entities and new grounds for registration
The obligation to register UBOs now applies not only to companies, organisations, branches and representative offices of foreign companies, foundations, legacies, institutions, and associations, but also to trusts and trust-like legal arrangements that are managed from Serbia or otherwise are subject to the law’s application. This expanded the number of registered entities that fall under the scope of the law and brought into the domestic legislation the regulation of forms of business that were previously outside the scope of the law.
In addition to incorporation and changes in ownership structure of the registered entities, management of a trust from Serbia or trustee activity within Serbia now constitutes a ground for registration of the beneficial owner.
Extended obligations
Unlike the previous law, the new law now requires that, when entering data into the Central Register of UBOs, registered subjects are obliged to:
- register an expanded set of information on UBO;
- provide the legal basis for identifying the UBO, the date of acquisition of such status, the date of registration as the UBO and supporting documents evidencing how the beneficial owner has been determined; and
