According to the European Commission’s annual report, published on 4 November 2026, the European Commission (EC) urged Ukraine to accelerate adoption of legislation to establish registers of bank accounts, individual safe-deposit boxes for private individuals, and beneficial owners of trusts, and to remove provisions that would postpone their launch.
Which provisions the EC considers problematic
The European Commission draws attention to provisions of bill №14327-d that would allow postponing the launch of the registers and access to them by competent authorities. The report notes that such clauses would permit deferring the operation of the registers for an indefinite period.
According to the document, it is proposed to start operating the registers and provide access to the information “six months before Ukraine’s accession to the European Union (EU)”, which the EC deems unacceptable and recommends removing from the legislative package.
Reason for the concerns and the launch timeline
The report emphasises that European standards for financial monitoring require effective mechanisms to obtain information on the owners of accounts and safes to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. These obligations are also enshrined in the Ukraine Facility plan.
Under the Ukraine Facility plan, the launch of the technical infrastructure for the account and safe registers and the provision of access to competent authorities is scheduled for the second quarter of 2027, whereas the provisions of the bill would allow delaying the start of operations until conditions tied to EU accession are met.
How this relates to joining SEPA
Bill №14327-d is intended to bring Ukrainian legislation into line with EU requirements and the criteria of the European Payments Council for joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). SEPA is the single euro payments area that standardises transfers in euros between banks of participating countries.
The report also states that adopting the legislation is a necessary step, but does not automatically guarantee accession to SEPA: other requirements must be met and the accession procedure completed.
Status of the bill in parliament
The revised bill №14327-d was registered on 6 April 2026. As of 7 November the document is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada.
The European Commission expects Ukraine not only to adopt the legislative changes, but also to ensure the registers are actually operational without deferring their launch until future EU accession.
