# Recital 23 *In force · Directive (EU) 2024/1640, OJ L, 2024/1640, 19.6.2024 · Checked against EUR-Lex on 26 Oct 2026 · [Official source](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1640/oj/eng)* Central registers of beneficial ownership information (‘central registers’) are crucial in combating the misuse of legal entities and of legal arrangements. Therefore, Member States should ensure that the beneficial ownership information of legal entities and legal arrangements, information on nominee arrangements and information on foreign legal entities and foreign legal arrangements are held in a central register. To ensure that those central registers are easily accessible and contain high-quality data, consistent rules on the collection and storing of that information by the registers should be introduced. Information held in central registers should be accessible in a readily usable and machine-readable format.