Recital 110

A common understanding of the concept of control and a more precise definition of the means of control are necessary to ensure consistent application of the rules across the internal market. Control should be understood as the effective ability to impose one’s will on the corporate entity’s decision-making on substantive issues. The usual means of control is a majority share of voting rights. The position of beneficial owner can also be established by control via other means without having significant, or any, ownership interest. For that reason, in order to ascertain all individuals that are beneficial owners of a legal entity, control should be identified independently of ownership interest. Control can generally be exercised by any means, including legal and non-legal means. Those means might be taken into account for assessing whether control via other means is exercised, depending on the specific situation of each legal entity.