Declaration of beneficial owners of the business

Verified 03 June 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

When registering a business, it must indicate the natural person or persons who own or control a business: these are: beneficial owners. All information on these beneficial owners is centralized in the Beneficial Ownership Register (EPR). Access to this information is now restricted to certain persons or authorities.

The beneficial owner (BE) is the natural person, partner or shareholder, which fulfills one of the following conditions:

  • It holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% voting rights or business capital.
  • It exercises a power of control over the latter by any other means (for example: may appoint or dismiss a majority of the members of the management bodies).

If one of these conditions is not met, the beneficial owner is the legal representative of the business (manager, president, etc.). Where the legal representative of the business is a legal person, the beneficial owner shall be the natural person or persons legally representing that business.

Infogreffe provides a scheme to facilitate the identification of beneficial owners.

The entities covered by this declaration are:

  • Businesses commercial (SARL, SA, SAS, etc.) and businesses civilian (ICS, SEL, etc.) having their head office in France
  • Economic Interest Groupings (EIGs) with their registered office in France
  • Commercial businesses with registered offices abroad and with an establishment in France
  • Other entities subject to the obligation to register in RCS: titleContent and at RNE: titleContent (collective investment undertakings, endowment funds, etc.).

The identity of the beneficial owners of a business must be indicated at the time of registration. In the event of a change of beneficial ownership (e.g. change of address), a request for a change of registration must be made to the company formalities office.

Registration of the business

Beneficial owners must be declared at the time of registration of the business.

They must be indicated in the « beneficial ownership » section by clicking on « add beneficial ownership ».

The type of control exercised for each beneficial owner should be specified. If the control is the « holding of more than 25% of the capital » or the « holding of 25% of the voting rights », the percentage of capital and/or the percentage of voting rights held will have to be specified.

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When declaring registration, the following information shall be provided:

  • Concerning the business :
    • Name or company name
    • Legal form
    • Address of the registered office
    • Optionally, the unique identification number.
  • Concerning each beneficial owner :
    • Name, usage name, pseudonym, first names
    • Date and place of birth
    • Nationality
    • Personal address
    • Nature and manner of control over the business and extent of such control
    • Date on which he became the beneficial owner of the business.
Request for Amending Enrollment

One change registration request must be made as soon as a change occurs in beneficial ownership: change of address after a move, change of usage name following a marriage, arrival of a new beneficiary, etc.

This request for an amended registration must be made within 30 days of this change.

The request must be made by the agent business (for example, the manager) online on the website of the company formalities desk.

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The following information shall be provided:

  • Concerning the business :
    • Name or company name
    • Legal form
    • Address of the registered office
    • Possibly, the unique identification number.
  • Concerning each beneficial owner :
    • Name, usage name, pseudonym, first names
    • Date and place of birth, nationality
    • Personal address
    • Nature and manner of control over the business and extent of such control
    • Date on which he became the beneficial owner of the business.

The consultation of the Beneficial Ownership Register (EPR) is no longer open to the general public.

To know the identity of the beneficial owners of a business, it is necessary either:

  • Justify a legitimate interest in the context of combating money laundering or terrorist financing, assessed on the basis of the applicant and its relationship with the target entity.
  • Be among the staff entitled to full access to the RBE.

Limited access for persons with a legitimate interest

Persons or entities who demonstrate a " legitimate interest in the context of the fight against money laundering may have access to the register of beneficial owners. Legitimate interest is assessed by reference to the applicant and its relationship to the target entity.

The list of such persons and entities is specified by law. It cites in particular:

  • Natural or legal persons in a business relationship with a business, where there is a risk to financial transparency. In this case, it is possible to obtain the information for the beneficial owners of this business.
  • Businesses and their managers bound by obligations to combat corruption or influence peddling
  • Subcontractors of persons required to exercise due diligence in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (banks, notaries, lawyers, insurers, etc.)
  • Members of Parliament
  • Journalists
  • Non-profit organizations
  • University researchers
  • Purchasers and licensing authorities for beneficial owners of tenderers
  • State or local authorities and their public institutions, mixed economy businesses (MES), national audit authority for European funds (as regards beneficial ownership)

The information available is limited to the following: surname, usage name, pseudonym, forenames, month, year of birth, country of residence and nationality of beneficial owners and nature and extent of their interests in the business.

The contents of the register shall remain confidential. The identity of the beneficial owners cannot therefore be disclosed to third parties (i.e. outside persons). However, journalists, academic researchers or non-profit organizations are allowed to do so when third parties have an interest in knowing this information.

Conditions for access to the Beneficial Ownership Register (RBE)

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) - Prime Minister

Pour en savoir plus

Certain supervisory authorities (judicial authorities, public finance officers, police and gendarmerie, etc.) may full access to the register of beneficial owners as part of their mission.

Full access for certain persons and authorities

Some entities may have access to full beneficial ownership information. Thus, in addition to information on civil status, they can know in particular the personal addresses, and the way in which control over the business is exercised.

The list of such persons and authorities shall be specified by law:

  • Persons required to exercise due diligence in the fight against money laundering (e.g. accountant or lawyer)
  • Judicial authorities
  • Customs Administration Officers
  • Public Finance Officers
  • Police or the national gendarmerie in the context of a judicial investigation
  • French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA)
  • Officers of the Treasury Board
  • High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP)
  • European Public Prosecutor’s Office
  • Court of Auditors and Regional and Territorial Chambers of Auditors
  • European Anti-Fraud Office
  • Control officers of the labor inspectorate and control officers of social security bodies
  • European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Eurojust)
  • European Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Authority

FYI  

Where a natural person has been declared the beneficial owner of a business, he or she may access the full information in the register of beneficial owners concerning this business.

The company wishing to consult the beneficial ownership register (RBE) can contact either the Inpi or the registry of the competent commercial court or economic activities court.

The request for access to the RBE information is free of charge.

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Request for access to the RBE at the Inpi via the one-stop shop

To access the EBR, the following steps must be followed:

  • Download, complete and sign a Beneficial Owner Data Access Request Form

Request for access to the beneficial ownership register (RBE) at the Inpi

The Inpi review the access request the beneficial ownership register on the basis of the information provided and the supporting documents provided. It may, where appropriate, request additional information. If the legitimate interest is not sufficiently justified or if the request is not complete, the request for access may be rejected.

Request for access to the EBR at the Registry of the Commercial Court

To make the request for access to the registry of the commercial court, the following steps must be followed:

  • Complete and sign the application form for access to the EBR
  • Provide a supporting document which varies depending on the person requesting access (mentioned in the access request form)
  • Send the file to the registry of the competent commercial court

The Clerk review the access request the beneficial ownership register on the basis of the information provided and the supporting documents provided. It may, where appropriate, request additional information. If the legitimate interest is not sufficiently justified or if the request is not complete, the request for access may be rejected.

Companies that fail to report or inaccurately or incompletely report information on their beneficial owners are subject to administrative and criminal sanctions.

Administrative penalties: deregistration from the RCS in case of non-regularization

Where the beneficial ownership information has not been declared or is inaccurate or incomplete, the Registrar of the Commercial Court may give formal notice the business to regularize its situation within 3 months. In the absence of regularization within that period, it may then automatically strike off the business of the RCS: titleContent.

The registrar of the commercial court or the Economic Activities Court (EAB) inform the public prosecutor of the automatic removal from the business. The latter can then be prosecuted criminally.

Similarly, the president of the commercial court businesses who fail to regularize beneficial ownership information within 3 months of their injunction may automatically delete them from the SCR.

Automatic cancelation is automatically transmitted to the National company Register (NSR) in order to ensure that the information is updated.

Please note

Where a business has been automatically struck off, it may request the reinstatement of its registration if it justifies having regularized its situation. The Registrar then has 15 days to either reinstate the registration or notify a reasoned refusal. In the event of refusal or failure to reply, the business may refer the matter to the president of the tribunal within 15 days.

Criminal sanctions

1. For the legal representative and beneficial owners

The legal representative of the business, or the person responsible for carrying out the registration formalities, shall be liable to a fine of €200,000. He also faces a penalty of prohibition from managing (maximum 15 years) and partial deprivation of his civil and civil rights. civic.

Please note

Since May 28, 2026, the penalty of imprisonment for 6 months is no longer incurred.

The beneficial owner himself refusing to provide the information necessary for his declaration also exposes him to a ban on management and a partial deprivation of his civil and civil rights.

2. For business

The business then runs the risk of fine up to a maximum amount of €1 000 000. It may also be sentenced to one or more of the additional penalties following:

  • Dissolution of the business
  • Placement under judicial supervision for a maximum of 5 years
  • Permanent closure or for a maximum of 5 years, of one, several or all the establishments of the business
  • Exclusion from public contracts definitively or for a maximum period of 5 years
  • Permanent ban or for a maximum of 5 years to make an offer to the public of financial securities or to go public
  • Prohibition for up to 5 years to issue checks to those who are certified or to use payment cards
  • Posting of the pronounced decision or dissemination of it in the written press

Please note

These penalties apply from 28 may 2026 in case of absence or incomplete declaration of beneficial ownership information. Prior to that date, the applicable regime provided in particular for a fine of €7,500 and a sentence of 6 months imprisonment for the legal representative business, and a fine of €37,500 for the business.

For offenses committed before that date and which have not yet given rise to a final conviction, some of the new sanctions may also apply where they are more favorable to the person concerned.