Between transparency and protection of privacy: the impact of CJEU jurisprudence on the regulation of beneficial ownership registers

Abstract This article examines the profound impact of the landmark judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers on the regulation and enforcement of Beneficial Ownership Registers in the Czech Republic. The judgment, by invalidating the provision for unrestricted public access, fundamentally shifted the concept of transparency from an absolute good to a qualified right, requiring strict proportionality with the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection. Due to subsequent legislative inaction, the Czech supreme courts intervened, establishing a doctrine of “functional connection” between the duty to register and the automatic public disclosure. This judicial activism declared the public-law enforcement mechanism (including sanctions and corporate penalties) for nonregistration to be unenforceable, as compliance would inevitably lead to a violation of constitutional rights.