Overview
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. It is effectively the second part of a legislative package to prevent the abuse of United Kingdom (UK) corporate structures and tackle economic crime, and makes a number of changes, some of them significant, to company law, notably the Companies Act 2006. It follows on from the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which received Royal Assent on 15 March 2022.
Effective from: dates TBC by statutory instrument
Key objectives
Key provisions
- Establishment of new statutory objectives for the Registrar to promote integrity of registers
- New requirements about company formation
- New provisions about company names, registered offices and registered email addresses New provisions about disqualification
- The introduction of identity verification requirements for all new and existing registered company directors, People with Significant Control, and those delivering documents to the Registrar
- New provisions about the Register of members, register of directors, secretaries and persons with significant control
- Changes to the reporting requirements for micro-entities and to confirmation statements
- Similar provisions relating to limited partnerships
- Changes to the requirements for the Register of Overseas Entities
- Additional powers to seize and recover suspected criminal cryptoassets
- New intelligence gathering powers for law enforcement