Schema reference¶
Attention
This is v0.1 of the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard. It includes updates to the data model and additional codelist information. Implementers should be aware that future changes are anticipated, before a version 1.0 release. See the Changelog and About pages for more information.
MUST and SHOULD are used in the schema to denote required and recommended elements of the Standard, as defined in RFC2119.
The following is an A - Z guide to the objects of the Data Standard’s schema, plus its codelists . Details of each object’s properties are provided in a table generated from the JSON schema. (For a structured view of how objects fit together in the JSON schema, use the Schema browser.)
The top-level objects are statements:
Statements are built up from a set of nested objects and properties, each of which has a field name, a title and a description that defines how the object or field should be used.
BODS data MAY be published as a valid JSON document. See Serialization for more options.
Address¶
A free text address string, providing as much address data as is relevant, suitable for processing using address parsing algorithms. For some uses (for example, Place of Birth) only a town and country are required.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
type |
string | |||
Type | What type of address is this? See the addressType codelist. | |||
address |
string | |||
Address | The address, with each line or component of the address separated by a line-break or comma. This field may also include the postal code. | |||
postCode |
string | |||
Postcode | The postal code for this address. | |||
country |
string | |||
Country | The ISO 2-Digit county code for this address. |
Note
A diversity of address formats are used across data management systems, and data is often inconsistently entered across data fields in these source systems (and legacy datasets). Therefore the BODS schema uses a very simple address format for data exchange. Consuming systems will need to parse BODS addresses before carrying out any structured comparison.
Designers of new data collection systems are encouraged to choose an appropriate structured format, with reference to established standards, and awareness of the need to accomodate addresses from across the world. See issue 18 for more details.
Agent¶
An individual, organisation or other responsible agent making, or supporting, a given statement or annotation.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
name |
string | |||
Name | The name of the agent | |||
uri |
string | uri | ||
URI | An optional URI to identify the agent. |
Annotation¶
The annotations
property of statements currently allows an array of these simple annotation objects to be included. An annotation can be used to hold information (structured or otherwise) for which a place does not exist elsewhere in the schema. See Sources and annotations for further guidance.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
statementPointerTarget |
string | |||
Statement Fragment Pointer | An RFC6901 JSON Pointer describing the target fragment of the statement that this annotation applies to, starting from the root of the statement. A value of ‘/’ indicates that the annotation applies to the whole statement. | |||
creationDate |
string | date | ||
Creation Date | The date this annotation was created. | |||
createdBy |
object | |||
Created By | The person, organisation or agent that created this annotation. | |||
createdBy/name |
string | |||
Name | The name of the person, organisation or agent that created this annotation. | |||
createdBy/uri |
string | uri | ||
URI | An optional URI to identify person, organisation or agent that created this annotation. | |||
motivation |
string | |||
Motivation | The motivation for this annotation, chosen from a codelist. See the annotationMotivation codelist. | |||
description |
string | |||
Description | A free-text description to annotate this statement or field. | |||
transformedContent |
string | |||
Transformed content | A representation of the annotation target after the transformation in the description field has been applied. This field SHOULD only be used when the motivation is transformation. | |||
url |
string | uri | ||
URL | A linked resource that annotates, provides context for or enhances this statement. The content of the resource, or the relationship to the statement, MAY be described in the description field. |
Country¶
A country MUST have a name. A country SHOULD have an ISO 2-Digit county code.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
name |
string | |||
Name | The name of the country | |||
code |
string | |||
Country code | The ISO 2-digit code for the country. |
EntityStatement¶
A statement identifying and describing the entity that is the subject of the ownership or control described in an ownership or control statement.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
statementID |
string | Required | ||
Statement Identifier | A persistent globally unique identifier for this statement. See ID |
|||
statementType |
string | Required | ||
Statement type | This should always be ‘entityStatement. | |||
statementDate |
string | date | ||
Statement date | The date on which this statement was made. See StatementDate |
|||
entityType |
string | Required | ||
Type | From the entityType codelist. What kind of entity is this? The ‘registeredEntity’ code covers any legal entity created through an act of official registration, usually resulting in an identifier being assigned to the entity. The ‘legalEntity’ code covers other bodies with distinct legal personality (government departments, international institutions etc.). The ‘arrangement’ code covers artificial entities, described in the data model for the purpose of associating one or more natural or legal persons together in an ownership or control relationship, but without implying that the parties to this arrangement have any other form of collective legal identity. | |||
missingInfoReason |
string | |||
Missing information reason(s) | For EntityStatements with the type ‘anonymousEntity’ or ‘unknownEntity’ this field should contain an explanation of the reason that detailed information on the entity is not provided. This may be a standard descriptive phrase from the source system, or a free-text justification. | |||
name |
string | |||
Entity name | The declared name of this entity. | |||
alternateNames |
array[string] | |||
Alternative names | An array of other names this entity is known by. | |||
incorporatedInJurisdiction |
object | |||
Incorporated In Jurisdiction | Details on where this legal entity is incorporated See Jurisdiction |
|||
identifiers |
array[Identifier] | |||
Identifiers | One or more official identifiers for this entity. Where available, official registration numbers should be provided. See Identifier |
|||
foundingDate |
string | |||
Founding date | When was this entity founded, created or registered. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
dissolutionDate |
string | |||
Dissolution date | If this entity is no longer active, provide the date on which it was disolved or ceased. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
addresses |
array[Address] | |||
Addresses | One or more addresses for this entity. See Address |
|||
uri |
string | uri | ||
URI | Where a persistent URI is available for this entity this should be included. | |||
replacesStatements |
array[string] | |||
Replaces statement(s) | If this statement replaces a previous statement or statements, provide the identifier(s) for the previous statement(s) here. Consuming applications are advised to mark the identified statements as no longer active. |
|||
source |
object | |||
Source | The source of information about this entity, or of information that supports an anonymous or unknown entity statement. See Source |
|||
annotations |
array[Annotation] | |||
Annotations | Annotations about this statement or parts of this statement See Annotation |
Identifier¶
The identifier component is used to connect a statement to the real-world person or entity that it refers to, using one or more existing known identifiers. See [Real world identifiers](identifiers.md) for technical guidance on when and how to use this component.
An identifier that has been assigned to this person or entity. The scheme or list from which the identifier is drawn should be declared.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
id |
string | |||
ID | The identifier for this person or entity as provided in the declared scheme. | |||
scheme |
string | |||
Scheme | For entity statements, the scheme should be a entry from the org-id.guide codelist. For person statements, the scheme should have the pattern {JURISDICTION}-{TYPE} where JURISDICTION is an ISO 3-digit country code and TYPE is one of PASSPORT, TAXID or IDCARD. | |||
schemeName |
string | |||
Scheme name | ||||
uri |
string | uri | ||
URI | Where this identifier has a canonical URI this may be included |
Interest¶
A description of the interest held by an interestedParty in another entity.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
type |
string | |||
Type of interest | A codelist value indicating the nature of the interest. See the interestType codelist | |||
interestLevel |
string | |||
Interest level | Is this interest held directly or indirectly? | |||
beneficialOwnershipOrControl |
boolean | |||
Beneficial ownership or control | Does this statement assert this as a beneficial ownership or control interest? A beneficial ownership or control interest is always between a natural person and some entity, and exists where the person ultimately benefits from, or has a degree of control over, the entity. There may be cases where a person has an interest in an entity, but where there are arrangements or other conditions that mean this interest does not constitute beneficial ownership or control. | |||
details |
string | |||
Details | This field may be used to provide the local name given to this kind of interest, or any further semi-structured or unstructured information to clarify the nature of the interest held. | |||
share |
object | |||
Percentage share | Where an exact percentage is available, this should be given, and maximum and minimum values set to the same as the exact percentage. Otherwise, maximum and minimum can be used to record the range into which the share of this kind of interest falls. | |||
startDate |
string | |||
State date | When did this interest first occur. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
endDate |
string | |||
End date | When did this interest cease. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. |
InterestedParty¶
The interested party has some level of ownership or control over the entity referenced in this ownership or control statement. This should be described with reference to either an entity statement or person statement, or, where the interested party is unknown, details of why.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
describedByEntityStatement |
string | |||
Described by entity statement | A reference to a statement describing a registered entity, trust or arrangement that has an ownership or control interest in the subject of this statement. An entityStatement should be used when the direct interests to be described represents known control or ownership by anyone other than a natural person. | |||
describedByPersonStatement |
string | |||
Described by person statement | A reference to a statement describing a natural person who has an ownership or control interest in the subject of this statement. | |||
unspecified |
object | |||
Unspecified or unknown ownership and control | When confirmation has been provided that no interested party exists, where ownership and control information does not need to be provided, or where details of ownership and control are unknown, information explaining this should be given using the unspecified reason and description. Where there is a natural person with ownership or control, but their name or details are not known, or cannot be disclosed for some reason, unspecified should not be used, but instead a reference to a personStatement should be provided but identifying details of the person left blank. | |||
unspecified/reason |
string | Required | ||
Reason | The reason that an interested party cannot be specified. From the unspecifiedReason codelist. | |||
unspecified/description |
string | |||
Description | Any supporting information about the absence of a confirmed beneficial owner. This field may be used to provide set phrases from a source system, or for a free-text explanation. |
Jurisdiction¶
A jurisdiction MUST have a name. A jurisdiction SHOULD have an ISO ISO_3166-2 2-Digit country code, or ISO_3166-2 sub-division code.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
name |
string | |||
Name | The name of the jurisdiction | |||
code |
string | |||
Country code | The ISO_3166-2 2-Digit country code, or ISO_3166-2 sub-division code of the jurisdiction |
Name¶
An name by which this individual is known. Names should be provided in fullName, and may optionally be broken down in the familyName, givenName and patronymicName fields, based on the [EC ISA Core Person Vocabulary](https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/solution/e-government-core-vocabularies) definitions.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
type |
string | |||
Type | What kind of name is this? See the nameType codelist. | |||
fullName |
string | |||
Full name | The full name contains the complete name of a person as one string. | |||
familyName |
string | |||
Family name | A family name is usually shared by members of a family. This attribute also carries prefixes or suffixes which are part of the Family Name, e.g. ‘de Boer’, ‘van de Putte’, ‘von und zu Orlow’. Multiple family names, such as are commonly found in Hispanic countries, are recorded in the single Family Name field so that, for example, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Family Name would be recorded as ‘Cervantes Saavedra.’ | |||
givenName |
string | |||
Given names | A given name, or multiple given names, are the denominator(s) that identify an individual within a family. These are given to a person by his or her parents at birth or may be legally recognised as ‘given names’ through a formal process. All given names are ordered in one field so that, for example, the given name for Johann Sebastian Bach is ‘Johann Sebastian.’ | |||
patronymicName |
string | |||
Patronymic Name | Patronymic names are important in some countries. Iceland does not have a concept of family name in the way that many other European countries do, for example. In Bulgaria and Russia, patronymic names are in every day usage, for example, the ‘Sergeyevich’ in ‘Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev’ |
OwnershipOrControlStatement¶
An ownership or control statement is made up of an entity, an interested party (a reference to an entity, natural person, arrangement or trust), details of the interest and provenance information for the statement.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
statementID |
string | Required | ||
Statement Identifier | A persistent globally unique identifier for this statement. See ID |
|||
statementType |
string | Required | ||
Statement type | This should always be set to ownershipOrControlStatement . |
|||
statementDate |
string | date | ||
Statement date | The date on which this statement was made. See StatementDate |
|||
subject |
object | Required | ||
Subject | The subject of an ownership or control relationship. | |||
subject/describedByEntityStatement |
string | Required | ||
Described by entity statement | Provide the identifier of the statement which describes the entity that the subject of an ownership or control interest. | |||
interestedParty |
object | Required | ||
Interested party | The interested party has some level of ownership or control over the entity referenced in this ownership or control statement. This should be described with reference to either an entity statement or person statement, or, where the interested party is unknown, details of why. See InterestedParty |
|||
interests |
array[Interest] | |||
Interests | A description of the interests held by the interestedParty covered by this statement in the entity covered by this statement. See Interest |
|||
source |
object | |||
Source | The source of the information that links the entity and the interested party, or that supports a null statement. See Source |
|||
annotations |
array[Annotation] | |||
Annotations | Annotations about this statement or parts of this statement See Annotation |
|||
replacesStatements |
array[string] | |||
Replaces statement(s) | If this statement replaces a previous statement or statements, provide the identifier(s) for the previous statement(s) here. Consuming applications are advised to mark the identified statements as no longer active. |
PEPStatus¶
A description of a politically-exposed person status.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
reason |
string | |||
Reason | The reason for this person being declared a politically-exposed person. | |||
jurisdiction |
object | |||
Jurisdiction | A jurisdiction MUST have a name. A jurisdiction SHOULD have an ISO ISO_3166-2 2-Digit country code, or ISO_3166-2 sub-division code. See Jurisdiction |
|||
startDate |
string | |||
State date | When did this PEP status begin. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
endDate |
string | |||
End date | When did this PEP status end. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. |
PersonStatement¶
A person statement describes the information known about a natural person at a particular point in time, or from a given submission of information
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
statementID |
string | Required | ||
Statement Identifier | A persistent globally unique identifier for this statement. See ID |
|||
statementType |
string | Required | ||
Statement type | This should always be ‘personStatement. | |||
statementDate |
string | date | ||
Statement date | The date on which this statement was made. See StatementDate |
|||
personType |
string | |||
Person type | Use the personType codelist. The ultimate beneficial owner of a legal entity is always a natural person. Where the beneficial owner has been identified, but information about them cannot be disclosed, use ‘anonymousPerson’. Where the beneficial owner has not been clearly identified, use ‘unknownPerson’. Where the beneficial owner has been identified use knownPerson. | |||
missingInfoReason |
string | |||
Missing information reason(s) | For PersonStatements with the type ‘anonymousPerson’ or ‘unknownPerson’ this field should contain an explanation of the reason that detailed information on the person is not provided. This may be a standard descriptive phrase from the source system, or a free-text justification. | |||
names |
array[Name] | |||
Names | One or more known names for this individual. See Name |
|||
identifiers |
array[Identifier] | |||
Identifiers | One or more official identifiers for this perrson. Where available, official registration numbers should be provided. See Identifier |
|||
nationalities |
array[Country] | |||
Nationality | An array of ISO 2-Digit country codes representing nationalities held by this individual. See Country |
|||
placeOfBirth |
object | |||
Place of birth | A free text address string, providing as much address data as is relevant, suitable for processing using address parsing algorithms. For some uses (for example, Place of Birth) only a town and country are required. See Address |
|||
birthDate |
string | |||
Date of birth | The date of birth for this individual. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
deathDate |
string | |||
Death date | If this individual is no longer alive, provide their date of death. Please provide as precise a date as possible in ISO 8601 format. When only the year or year and month is known, these can be given as YYYY or YYYY-MM. | |||
placeOfResidence |
object | |||
Place of residence | A free text address string, providing as much address data as is relevant, suitable for processing using address parsing algorithms. For some uses (for example, Place of Birth) only a town and country are required. See Address |
|||
addresses |
array[Address] | |||
Addresses | One or more addresses for this entity. See Address |
|||
pepStatus |
array[PEP Status] | |||
Politically Exposed Person Status | One or more descriptions of this person’s Politically-Exposed Person (PEP) status. See PepStatus |
|||
source |
object | |||
Source | The source of information about this person, or of information that supports an unknown or anonymous person statement. See Source |
|||
annotations |
array[Annotation] | |||
Annotations | Annotations about this statement or parts of this statement See Annotation |
|||
replacesStatements |
array[string] | |||
Replaces statement(s) | If this statement replaces a previous statement or statements, provide the identifier(s) for the previous statement(s) here. Consuming applications are advised to mark the identified statements as no longer active. |
ReplacesStatements¶
replacesStatements
If this statement replaces a previous statement or statements, provide the identifier(s) for the previous statement(s) here. Consuming applications are advised to mark the identified statements as no longer active.
See Updating statements for technical guidance on working with updates to data.
Source¶
The source object is used to explain where information in a statement originated from, and to link to supporting information.
Title | Description | Type | Format | Required |
---|---|---|---|---|
type |
array[string] | |||
Source type | What type of source is this? Multiple tags can be combined. Values should come from the source type codelist. | |||
description |
string | |||
Description | Where required, additional free-text information about the source of this statement can be provided here. | |||
url |
string | |||
Source URL | If this information was fetched from an external URL, or a machine or human readable web page is available that provides additional information on how this statement was sourced, provide the URL. | |||
retrievedAt |
string | date-time | ||
Retrieved at | If this statement was imported from some external system, include a timestamp indicating when this took place. The statement’s own date should be set based on the source information. | |||
assertedBy |
array[Agent] | |||
Asserted by | Who is making this statement? This may be the name of the person or organisation making a self-declaration (in which case, please make sure the name field matches the organisation or person name field), or the name or description of some other party. If this statement has been verified, this may also include the name of the organisation providing verification. See Agent |
See Sources and annotations for a discussion of provenance modelling.
StatementDate¶
Dates MUST conform with the extended format of ISO 8601. All of the following, for example, are valid:
- A full datetime string (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ)
- A year, month and day (YYYY-MM-DD)
- A year and month (YYYY-MM)
- A year (YYYY)
Codelists¶
AddressType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
placeOfBirth | Place of birth | ||
home | Home address | ||
residence | Residential address | ||
registered | Registered address | ||
service | Service address | ||
alternative | Alternative address |
AnnotationMotivation¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
commenting | Commenting | The description field provides contextual comments for a field, object or statement. | |
correcting | Correcting | The value of this field, object or statement has been corrected, using the method in the description field and/or from the original value given in the description field. | |
identifying | Identifying | The value of this field, object or statement has been augmented or processed for the purpose of identifying natural persons or legal entities, using the method in the description field. | |
linking | Linking | The description provide contextual material that explains the field, object or statement. URLs to linked material are be provided in the url field. | |
transformation | Transformation | The values of this field, object or statement have been changed from their original form using the method in the description field. The transformed representation may be provided in the transformedContent field. |
EntityType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
registeredEntity | Registered Entity | Any legal entity created through an act of official registration. In most cases, registered entities will have an official issued identifier. | |
legalEntity | Legal entity | A body with distinct legal personality, such as a government departments or international institutions, but which is not otherwise uniquely identified in some official register. | |
arrangement | Arrangement | An artificial entity, created by agreements, contracts or other processes. | |
anonymousEntity | Anonymous entity | An entity that has been identified, but for which no identifying information is being published. | |
unknownEntity | Unknown entity | An entity that has not been identified. |
InterestLevel¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
direct | Direct | The interest is held directly. | |
indirect | Indirect | The interest is held through one or more intermediate entities (including arrangements). | |
unknown | Unknown | The interest may be direct or indirect. |
InterestType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
shareholding | Shareholding | ||
voting-rights | Voting rights | ||
appointment-of-board | Appointment of board | ||
influence-or-control | Influence or control | ||
senior-managing-official | Senior managing official | ||
settlor-of-trust | Settlor of trust | ||
trustee-of-trust | Trustee of a trust. | ||
protector-of-trust | Protector of a trust | ||
beneficiary-of-trust | Beneficiary of a trust | ||
other-influence-or-control-of-trust | Other influence or control of a trust | ||
rights-to-surplus-assets | Rights to surplus assets | ||
rights-to-profit-or-income | Rights to receive profits or income |
NameType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
individual | Given name | ||
translation | Translation of name | ||
former | Former name | ||
alias | Alias | ||
aka | Also Known As | ||
nick | Nickname | ||
birth | Birth name |
PersonType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
knownPerson | Known person | This person has been identified, and information such as names, identifiers or biographical information may be provided about them. | |
anonymousPerson | Anonymous person | This person has been identified, but identifying information is being withheld. The reason for non disclosure should be given in the accompanying missingInfoReason field. | |
unknownPerson | Unknown person | The identity of this person has not been discovered or confirmed. |
SourceType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
selfDeclaration | Self declaration | The information was provided by the individual or entity referred to in this statement, or by their authorised representative. | |
officialRegister | Official register | The information was taken from an official register. | |
thirdParty | Third party | The information was provided by a third party, not directly related to the individual, entity or interests described by this statement. | |
primaryResearch | Primary research | The information was provided as a result of research into primary sources. | |
verified | Verified | The information has been verified through the process documented in the associated description. |
StatementType¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
personStatement | Person Statement | The parent object should be validated using the person-statement schema. | |
entityStatement | Entity Statement | The parent object should be validated using the entity-statement schema | |
ownershipOrControlStatement | Ownership or Control Statement | The parent object should be validated using the ownership-or-control-statement schema. |
UnspecifiedReason¶
code | title | description | technical note |
---|---|---|---|
no-beneficial-owners | No beneficial owners | There are no beneficial owners who need to disclose ownership according to the rules under which this statement is made. | |
subject-unable-to-confirm-or-identify-beneficial-owner | Subject unable to confirm or identify beneficial owner | The subject of this ownership or control statement has, as the disclosing party, been unwilling or unable to confirm the existence identify a beneficial owner. | |
interested-party-has-not-provided-information | Interested party has not provided information | The interested party in this ownership or control statement has not provided enough information to identify or confirm the identity of the beneficial owner. | |
subject-exempt-from-disclosure | Subject exempt from disclosure | The subject of this ownership or control statement is not required to disclose its beneficial owner. (Replaces noNotifiableOwners.) | |
interested-party-exempt-from-disclosure | Interested party exempt from disclosure | The interested party in this ownership or control statement is exempt from having their identity disclosed. | |
unknown | Unknown reason | The reason an interested party cannot be provided is not known. |