In the note, released Wednesday, the group said a joint task force for registering the assets of wealthy individuals above a certain threshold could be set up to investigate assets held in Europe, which could pave the way for an ongoing central registry. The report was compiled by the Tax Observatory, a group established by the European Commission that resides at the Paris School of Economics.
"A European asset registry could prove key in addressing long-standing issues of financial secrecy such as tax avoidance and evasion, money laundering and corruption," the report said.
A task force to assess the amount of assets being held in the European Union could be the first step toward a permanent asset registry, the study said. That in turn would enable European countries to target sanctions against individuals thought to be involved in corruption or crime or to have links to administrations in jurisdictions such as Russia.
"This task force could pave the way for establishing a permanent European asset registry, tasked with systematically gathering and linking wealth information across all asset types," the report said. "The ultimate objective of the registry would be to record comprehensively the ownership and movement of assets."
Current gaps in individual EU member countries' registers of assets contribute to evasion of law enforcement by wealthy individuals, according to the report.
The gaps in current enforcement and regulation include the widespread ability to use shell companies to disguise ownership, lack of central reporting of real estate ownership, and lack of information on stock ownership — which is often private or not freely available — according to the report.
Creating an asset registry could help European countries in their efforts to isolate those close to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin without inflicting significant economic damage on the general Russian population — as currently appears to be happening, according to the report.
"Recent sanctions, which aim at isolating the Russian economy, have a large impact on the general population," the report said. "Evidence draws a link between Russian nationals investing in real estate in many European countries — often via shell companies."
The EU Tax Observatory is due to publish a full report on the subject of a European asset registry in 2023. The group believes that setting up a task force now could help measure any potential measures' effectiveness by acting as a pilot program.
"Systematic collection of asset ownership information would close gaps [in knowledge about illicit assets] further and facilitate the ongoing development of national registers," the report said.
The EU Tax Observatory did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
--Editing by Neil Cohen.
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