Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of when (a) the Bailiwick of Jersey, (b) the Bailiwick of Guernsey and (c) the Isle of Man will implement a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership.

In 2019, the Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Isle of Man (the Crown Dependencies) committed to implement publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership in line with principles adopted by the European Union.

In December 2022, following the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the Crown Dependencies issued a statement announcing that they were pausing work on their public commitments while they sought legal advice.

Currently 14 EU Member States allow public access to their beneficial ownership registers. Gibraltar has maintained a publicly accessible beneficial ownership register since 2020 and has not noted any negative economic impacts resulting from implementation of its public register.

The UK and the Crown Dependencies have differing legal views on implementing publicly accessible registers in light of the CJEU ruling. The UK is satisfied with the lawfulness of our own publicly accessible registers and continues to believe that the CDs could legally implement public registers of their own.

The Home Office is actively engaging the Crown Dependencies to understand their position. We will keep Parliament updated in the weeks ahead.