As of today, 1 October 2025, the Serbian Business Registers Agency has made the new, upgraded version of the Portal for Maintaining the Central Records of Beneficial Owners available to registered entities and obliged entities under the law governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as to the general public.
In accordance with the Law on the Central Records of Beneficial Owners (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia,” Nos. 19/2025, 51/2025, and 60/2025 - correction) and the Rulebook on the Contents of the Central Records for the Purpose of Recording Beneficial Owners (“Official Gazette of RS,” No. 83/2025), registered entities can now electronically comply with the law by uploading documentation on the basis of which the beneficial owner is determined, and by recording multiple individuals as beneficial owners, either on the same or different legal grounds.
We particularly emphasize that in the case of endowments and foundations, due to changes in the law, compliance now includes not only uploading documentation but also recording the founders and beneficiaries of the foundation or endowment as beneficial owners, if specified. If the beneficiary is not designated, the group of persons for whose benefit the foundation/endowment was established must be recorded, along with the members of the governing bodies of the foundation or endowment.
Obliged entities under the law governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing can now access the uploaded documentation and personal identifiers of the recorded beneficial owners. Furthermore, as of today, they are also required to enter notes in the Central Records in cases where there is a discrepancy between the recorded data and the data obtained through the application of actions and measures prescribed by the relevant law.
The content of the Central Records has been expanded to include a list of registered entities that were incorporated after the entry into force of the law but failed to record their beneficial owner within 30 days, as well as a list of existing registered entities that did not record beneficial owner data prior to the effective date of the law. The records will also include data on registered entities that fail to upload documents used to determine the beneficial owner within 60 days from the law’s effective date. These entities will be considered high-risk under the law governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The new application also enables the recording of trusts and legal arrangements similar to trusts in cases prescribed by law, as well as the recording of their beneficial owners.
The Central Records are part of the system for combating money laundering and terrorist financing in the Republic of Serbia. They are established in accordance with the EU Directive 2018/843, known as the Fifth Directive amending the EU Directive 2015/849, and in line with international standards that form part of Recommendations 24 and 25 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that sets standards in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Information about the contents of the Records, the recording procedure, entering notes on discrepancies, and access to the list of high-risk entities is available on the Agency’s website under: Registers/ The Central Records of Beneficial Owners.