Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he will publish the Order in Council in relation to public registers of beneficial ownership of companies registered in British Overseas Territories.

On 14 December the Government published a draft Order in Council which has been prepared under Section 51 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-territories-adopting-publicly-accessible-registers-of-beneficial-ownership

The draft Order sets minimum requirements for what the UK Government expects of publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories. This includes the form that the register must take and that the information that must be made available such that it would be broadly equivalent to that available in accordance with the provisions of Part 21 A of the UK Companies Act 2006.

All of the inhabited Overseas Territories have now committed to adopt public accessible registers, and as such are showing that they are responsible jurisdictions and a collaborative partner to the UK. This is also evident from the cooperation the UK gets from the Overseas Territories via the Exchange of Notes Arrangements, where confidential information on company beneficial ownership and tax information is shared with UK law enforcement bodies in real time.

The draft Order has been published on Gov.uk with an accompanying note, and a Written Ministerial Statement was laid on 14 December. The Government is now helping the Overseas Territories to implement the policy; on the technical aspects we already held workshops and have secured the support of Open Ownership, and we are helping others with the procurement of their registers.