Česky

Anticorruption barometer

Transparent and effective public investment — #119 Proving of ownership structures of foreign companies with paper shares

Foreign companies with certificated bearer shares that want to receive public funds from the Czech taxpayer, whether directly or indirectly, should be obliged to deposit their stock certificates in custody order to credibly prove their ownership structure.

Justification and sources

Update history

date	reason	effectiveness	progression
10/2016 current	The proposal of the Act on public procurement which entered into force concerns also foreign companies, however, it does not deal with the issue of proving of corporate ownership structures of selected contractors which are foreign companies, it requires from them only a declaration on direct shareholders with interest above 10 %.	Effectiveness 25%	Progression 90%	More
04/2016	The proposal of the Act on public procurement which is in the Senate concerns also foreign companies, however, it does not deal with the issue of proving of corporate ownership structures of selected contractors which are foreign companies, it requires from them only a declaration on direct shareholders with interest above 10 %.	Effectiveness 25%	Progression 80%	More
03/2016	The proposal of the Act on public procurement which is in the Senate concerns also foreign companies, however, it does not deal with the issue of proving of corporate ownership structures of selected contractors which are foreign companies, it requires from them only a declaration on direct shareholders with interest above 10 %.	Effectiveness 25%	Progression 70%	More
10/2015	The proposal of Act on public procurement, which is in the Lower Chamber of the Parliament, nor the proposal of law amending the Act on public registers in conjunction with the proposal of law amending the Act against money laundering, which are in the Government, do not deal with the issue of proving of ownership structures of companies to the state. However, since the proposal of law amending the Act on public registers foresees the disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners, it will have to resolve the issue of disclosure of the related ownership structures; otherwise it will not be possible to prove that the declared ultimate beneficial owners – of both Czech and foreign companies, are indeed their real ultimate beneficial owners.	Effectiveness 25%	Progression 60%	More
08/2015	The proposal amending the Act on public registers nor the proposal amending the Act against money laundering does nor deal with the question of evidencing of ownership of non-Czech firms in relation to the disclosure of ultimate beneficial owner(s). Yet, the commitment made by the Government both in the Action plan and the Conception of fight against corruption covers the issue of evidencing of ownership of non-Czech firms within the ownership structures up to the ultimate beneficial owner(s) of firms receiving public funds, however, it does not specify the way in which it would be implemented.	Effectiveness 0%	Progression 30%	More