The opening of beneficial-ownership registers to the public may still be on the cards, even after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the requirement to do so was not valid.

David Burt, the Premier, told Parliament on Friday that the issue of publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership remains a priority in discussions Bermuda has had with the British Government.

The effort to create more transparency was originally aimed at creating more international co-operation, to help countries retrieve tax revenue they felt was lost through the use of tax avoidance and tax evasion by their citizens and corporations.

There were also concerns as to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. An entire network has been already established for the automatic cross-border exchange of financial account information, at the request of law enforcement.

However, the court considered how this squares with the global legislative measures aimed at the protection of privacy.

The Premier said in a ministerial statement: “Bermuda’s position remains firm. We have committed to publicly accessible registers within 12 months of the publication of the implementation review of the European Union’s fifth Anti-Money-Laundering Directive.

“Bermuda will then bring into effect the legislative framework to establish public access to beneficial-ownership data held in a central register, mindful of the recent European Court ruling that stated the privacy rights that may be infringed by a public register must be balanced by a legitimate interest test, for persons seeking access to that register.”

Public rights of access to beneficial-ownership registers was an issue that the court struck down a year ago this month, on grounds that included privacy concerns.

The court also remained unconvinced that it was even necessary in the prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing.

The CJEU determined that EU legislation granting public access to the beneficial ownership registers of EU member-state companies was no longer valid.

The issue is based on a 2018 European Parliament directive installing the provision for member states.

The registers are already available to law enforcement and other competent and obliged authorities. But the directive was controversially amended to force member states to provide that the registers were fully accessible by any member of the general public.

Bermuda had previously taken the position that it would oblige the request, once it became a world standard — a requirement of all countries.

Bermuda has had a beneficial-ownership register for three quarters of a century — a point that had to be made clear to Europeans when they first proposed the idea. Other countries have followed to create their own, although it remains uncertain how many have and to what standard.

The CJEU held that making personal data available to third parties constituted an interference with individuals’ fundamental rights to private life, no matter the subsequent use of the information.

The court said that the directive is incompatible with the right to respect for private and family life, and the right to the protection of personal data, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

It acknowledged the role of journalists and civil society organisations in preventing and detecting money-laundering offences, saying that they must have access to information on the real individuals behind EU companies.

The response to the ruling has been mixed, but it appears that some countries have closed registers — Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Malta and Ireland — while others have maintained public access. Finland, Spain and Italy appear to be among countries that never set up registers, at least as of last year.

The European Commission responded to the court ruling by saying it was ready to work with legislators to ensure full compliance with the judgment, which observers translated to mean that one could expect amendments to the legislation.

In Britain in 2016, Companies House set up the People with Significant Control register.

Then, in 2022, Companies House set up the Register of Overseas Entities, requiring overseas entities who own British property to identify who their registrable beneficial owners are, to register their details with Companies House, and to keep these details up to date.