Cyprus firms pay hefty red-tape fines

Cypriot companies are this month being hit hard by hefty fines, often meaning a charge of 100 euros on a daily basis. The crux of the matter lies in a bureaucratic mix-up regarding the accurate records of company ownership, managed by the Company Registrar.

As of January 1, a new set of regulations has come into effect, triggering widespread chaos and complications for many businesses. The root of the problem is traced back to a government directive aimed at smoothly transitioning from a temporary fix to a permanent solution for maintaining electronic records of company ownership. This directive was implemented on November 14.

Since then, it’s been a quagmire. Companies are grappling with compliance issues, and fines are accumulating. To address this, several organizations jointly penned a letter to the authorities on January 10, highlighting the pressing issues. They are seeking an immediate meeting with the government to untangle the confusion, proposing a deadline extension, a simplified process for entering ownership details, and the cancellation of fines automatically imposed on companies that correctly registered their actual owners under the new rules.