Customer Charter

The Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies (RBO) is the central location for the submission of all statutory information on the Beneficial Ownership of Irish companies and Industrial and Provident Societies (I&Ps) under the EU’s 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Directive.

The RBO Unit deals with the submission and registration of all Beneficial Ownership details for companies and I&Ps and to make available in a limited capacity for inspection by the public, Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), State Competent Authorities (SCAs), compliance officers and other obliged entities.

The Mission Statement of the RBO is to ensure a high level of filing compliance, with the assurance that the information provided to us complies with the relevant statutory provisions and that the information supplied by us accurately reflects that provided.

The RBO Unit is committed to delivering the highest quality service to our customers and to ensuring continuous improvement in the standard of service that we provide.

The Office deals with the registration of beneficial ownership of all Irish companies and I&Ps and making available in a limited capacity such details for inspection. We will endeavour to:

  • ● Register new and amended beneficial ownership details within 10 working days
  • ● Notify all Data Subjects in instances where an error in the submission process has occurred within 10 working days – Letters to issues within one working day of any errors reported.
  • ● Respond to email queries within 10 working days.

 

Under Data Protection Regulations, no member of the Register of Beneficial Ownership Office can discuss individual case details or personal information over the phone, or by email.

The RBO Unit is a small dedicated team. Our front-line service and main source of information to customers will be via the website. Any customer wishing to contact the Office can do so by e-mail or post. We will continue to ensure that the Unit is manned by highly trained and qualified staff.

However, under Data Protection Regulations, no member of the Register of Beneficial Ownership Office can discuss individual case details or personal information over the phone. Subject Access Requests (SARs) may be dealt with by email.

 

Website

The Register of Beneficial Ownership website will be the primary source of information. We will:

  • ● provide accurate, up to date information
  • ● Continue to comply with web accessibility guidelines
  • ● Ensure information is easy to find and accessible
  • ● Provide easy to use online application forms
  • ● Have cutting-edge online search facilities
  • ● Keep downtime below 1%
  • ● Forewarn of any downtime for maintenance purposes

 

e-mail

When contacting the RBO by e-mail we aim to:

  • ● acknowledge all e-mails on receipt
  • ● reply to all emails as promptly as possible
  • ● direct all queries, when relevant, to the appropriate sections in the Frequently Asked Questions on the website.
  • ● write in clear language

 

Letter post

When contacted by letter, we aim to:

  • ● acknowledge all correspondence within 10 working days, provide a full reply within 15 working days in 90% of cases. If this is not possible an interim reply will issue informing you when you can expect a full reply
  • ● Write in simple, clear language
  • ● Provide contact name, number, address and e-mail address on all correspondence.

 

General

We will aim to keep our customers informed by:

  • ● attending open days organised by local enterprise offices and professional representative bodies countrywide
  • ● active use of social media
  • ● conducting advertising campaigns
  • ● Keeping the Website up to day with accurate information

If you are unhappy with the service you have received from the RBO and if the issue cannot be resolved to your satisfaction with the staff member, you can make a formal complaint to the RBO Information officer (see contact details below). The RBO Information officer will deal with your complaint properly, fairly and impartially in accordance with best practice.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation by the RBO Information officer, you have the right of appeal to a senior officer. If the matter remains unresolved, you have the right of further appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman.

However, under Data Protection Regulations, no member of the Register of Beneficial Ownership Unit can discuss individual case details or personal information over the phone. Subject Access Requests (SARs) may be dealt with by email.

The Register of Beneficial Ownership Unit complies fully with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2014. We will make every effort to provide you with as much information as possible informally, without resort to the terms of the Act. However, should you wish to make a formal request under the Act, you should contact the FOI officer. Tel: (01) 804 5200.

We will aim to do our best to facilitate our customers who wish to conduct their business in Irish in accordance with our obligations under the Official Languages Act 2003. If you write to us in Irish, we will reply to you in Irish. We will publish important documents such as our Annual Report simultaneously in Irish and English.

We will also publish other information and material in Irish on our website – www.rbo.gov.ie. This customer charter is available in Irish.

The Register of Beneficial Ownership Office is not publicly accessible. If you have a query which might require specific beneficial ownership knowledge please check our website www.rbo.gov.ie. to see if your question is answered there. If following browsing the “frequently asked questions” section of the RBO website your query remains, you may email the query to: enquiries@rbo.gov.ie

The office is unavailable on all Public and Bank Holidays.

Contact Details

Ms Heather Murray, the Register of Beneficial Ownership Information Officer and Access Officer, may be contacted directly at:

Companies Registration Office,

Bloom House, Gloucester Place Lower, Dublin 1

Telephone: (01) 804 5251

Email: heather.murray@cro.ie

NOTE:

Should you require to make an SAR request please note that for the purposes of administrative efficiency, our preferred format for the submission of SARs to the RBO will be by e-mail, but that the RBO will also accept SARs in writing or orally where an applicant requires to make an SAR under the Disabilities Act 2005 and the RBO has a designated Access Officer who can assist with this task.