UrBC, Moscow, July 20, 2011. The draft new version of the Russian Federation Civil Code contains a new requirement for offshore companies: they will now have to disclose the names of their beneficiaries, Vedomosti reports.

The availability of such information is a sine qua non proviso for doing business in Russia, the new amendments say. A legal entity is prosecuted for misinforming the authorities or for backing out of providing these data. The amendments do not specify, however, how such a legal entity shall be prosecuted for the offense.

The proposed version of Article 51 makes it obligatory for the companies ‘registered’ on the territory of a country with preferential tax treatment and (or) a country whose laws do not require that information on financial transactions be disclosed to submit all the data regarding their founders and beneficiaries to the Federal Tax Service.

The initiative on making on obligatory to disclose information on beneficiaries was put forth by the Presidential Codification Council, the newspaper says.