Close links as defined in Article 4(1), point (35), of Directive 2014/65/EU:

'close links' means a situation in which two or more natural or legal persons are linked by:

(a) participation in the form of ownership, direct or by way of control, of 20 % or more of the voting rights or capital of an undertaking;
(b) 'control' which means the relationship between a parent undertaking and a subsidiary, in all the cases referred to in Article 22(1) and (2) of Directive 2013/34/EU, or a similar relationship between any natural or legal person and an undertaking, any subsidiary undertaking of a subsidiary undertaking also being considered to be a subsidiary of the parent undertaking which is at the head of those undertakings;
(c) a permanent link of both or all of them to the same person by a control relationship.

Defined in / by

Last updated: 22 August 2026.