Identifying beneficial owners, the roles they play and the extent of control they exercise over legal persons is now subject to more detailed regulatory requirements in Ethiopia. The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Proclamation No. 780/2013 (“Anti-Money Laundering Proclamation”) defines a “Beneficial Owner” as “any natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer or an account, the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, or the person who ultimately exercises effective control over a legal person or arrangement.”
The Anti-Money Laundering Proclamation establishes transparency of legal persons as a core measure for achieving its objectives and accordingly requires legal persons to maintain adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial owners and control structures. The amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Proclamation (Amendment Proclamation No. 1387/2025) further reinforces this framework by expressly requiring cooperation in the disclosure of Beneficial Owner Information. On 10 July 2026, the Transparency of Legal Persons Beneficial Ownership Information Regulation No. 592/2026 (the “Regulation”) was published in the Federal Negarit Gazette and entered into force to further implement these requirements.
The Regulation applies to legal persons established and operating in Ethiopia, subject to specified exemptions, including civil society organisations. This Regulation sets out detailed requirements for the identification and disclosure of Beneficial Owners, building on the framework established by the Amendment Proclamation. The Regulation aims to identify Beneficial Owners by determining the control they exert over legal persons through ownership stakes, affinal influence or ability to affect the management of A Legal Person. It provides different criteria through which Beneficial Owners may be identified in different business organization forms, including various companies and partnerships, financial institutions and public-private partnerships, setting different ownership thresholds depending on the kind of entity.
The Regulation requires disclosures to be made by Legal Persons to different governmental and non-governmental bodies it identifies, including but not limited to the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration (MoTRI) and Ministry of Revenues (MoR). Foreign legal persons investing or conducting business in Ethiopia are also required to identify their Beneficial Owners and provide the relevant information in accordance with the Regulation.
The Regulation also requires existing legal persons to obtain and hold beneficial ownership information within three months from the date it comes into force and requires them to submit this information to the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration within six months, with the latter deadline expected on 11 January 2027, subject to any extension granted by the Ministry. The Ministry may extend either period by up to two months. With the submission deadline approaching, companies should assess whether their beneficial ownership information and reporting arrangements meet the Regulation’s requirements.
Aside from obligations of disclosure, other obligations such as maintaining and updating the information as well as the appointment of a responsible officer are imposed upon Legal Persons.
Failure to comply with obligations may entail consequences such as restrictions on the issuance and renewal of commercial registration certificates, business licences and investment permits. The Regulation further provides that violations of obligations attract different sanctions depending on the breach, including fines of ETB 100,000 to ETB 500,000, suspension of business licences and cancellation of commercial registration.
