Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement of 1 May 2018, HCWS660, on beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, whether information on merchant shipping beneficially owned in Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies is included in the Exchange of Notes arrangements.

The Exchanges of Notes concluded with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies in 2016 provide for the exchange of information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions. As ships are assets, and not corporate and legal entities, the beneficial owners of merchant ships registered in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies would not be covered by the Exchanges of Notes, unless the vessels are owned by corporate and legal entities incorporated in these jurisdictions.