Implementation of COSP Resolution 10/6 on Enhancing the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information to Strengthen Asset Recovery
Background and introduction
Anonymously owned companies are used to move, often across multiple jurisdictions, the proceeds of corruption and illicit financial flows (IFFs) and conceal links with the individuals who benefit from them. Beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) helps bring to light which individuals own, control and benefit from companies, trusts and other legal vehicles (that is, their beneficial owners), and therefore is essential to strengthening asset recovery efforts.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (CoSP), recognizing these challenges and the power of BOT to address them, adopted back-to-back resolutions on this important topic: resolution 9/7 on “Enhancing the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information to Facilitate the Identification, Recovery, and Return of Proceeds of Crime,” adopted at its ninth session in December 2021, and resolution 10/6 on “Enhancing the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information to Strengthen Asset Recovery,” adopted at its tenth session in December 2023.
As mandated by those resolutions, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Corruption and Economic Crime Branch produced a series of analyses based on information provided by States Parties across a number of topics: examples of good practices in promoting beneficial ownership (BO) information transparency to facilitate the recovery and return of assets, and financial disclosure requirements for public officials; [1] and information on States Parties that maintain a registry or alternative mechanism on BO information, together with information on to make requests for such information. It also gathered key actors involved in BOT across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and South-East Asia, in partnership with the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, Open Ownership and national authorities, to further explore these issues from a regional perspective throughout 2024.
Resolution 10/6 also mandated UNODC to convene an intergovernmental meeting with the participation of relevant experts, in close coordination with States Parties, to identify and share best practices and challenges in the use of BO information, including on how the recovery and return of assets could be facilitated by BO information, and develop case studies for States Parties on best practices and challenges identified. Informed by the regional dialogues held across 2024, the Intergovernmental Meeting on Enhancing the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information to Strengthen Asset Recovery was held in Vienna, Austria, from 14 to 15 April 2025, and brought together over 70 participants from across all regions. [2]
To ensure full implementation of the mandate in resolution 10/6, UNODC, in partnership with Open Ownership, is developing a series of case studies on best practices and challenges in using BO information as outlined in paragraph 20, bringing together the specific good practices and challenges identified as a result of the April 2025 global intergovernmental meeting, as well as further national experiences that may prove helpful in guiding States Parties to operationalize the commitments set out in resolution 10/6 and more broadly, to implement effective BO regimes in their countries and across borders.
Footnotes
[1] Based on voluntary information provided by 55 States Parties. Further papers include: Promoting beneficial ownership transparency to facilitate asset recovery (September 2025); Good practices and challenges in leveraging synergies between beneficial ownership transparency and financial disclosure for asset recovery (September 2025); A reference document on good practices, challenges and lessons learned with respect to beneficial ownership transparency (June 2024); Conference room paper on enhancing beneficial ownership transparency: a study of beneficial ownership registration systems (December 2023); Good practices and challenges with respect to the establishment of effective financial disclosure systems for appropriate public officials and how they can facilitate the recovery and return of proceeds of crime (September 2023); Good practices and challenges with respect to beneficial ownership and how it can foster and enhance the effective recovery and return of proceeds of crime (November 2022).
[2] UNODC is grateful for the Government of Denmark’s generous contribution in making this event possible, and for the Government of Norway’s long-term support of UNODC’s work on BOT.
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