Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022

Valid from 01/08/2022

Inspection of the register and protection of information U.K.

21 Inspection and copies of register U.K.

(1) Any person may—

(a) inspect the register (but see the exceptions in section 22);

(b) require a copy of any material on the register that is available for inspection.

(2) The registrar may specify the form and manner in which an application is to be made for inspection or a copy.

(3) The registrar may determine the form and manner in which copies are to be provided.

(4) Section 1091 of the Companies Act 2006 (certification of copies), and any regulations made under it, apply in relation to copies provided under this section as they apply in relation to the copies provided as mentioned in that section.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 21 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69

22 Material unavailable for inspection U.K.

(1) The following material must not be made available by the registrar for public inspection—

(a) any date of birth or residential address information protected under subsection (2),

(b) the name or contact details of an individual delivered to the registrar under section 4(1)(d) (application for registration), 7(1)(e) (updating duty) or 9(1)(f) (application for removal),

(c) any required information about a trust delivered to the registrar by virtue of section 4(3), 7(3) or (4) or 9(3) or (4) (required information about trusts),

(d) information that, by virtue of regulations under section 25 (power to protect other information), the registrar must omit from the material on the register that is available for inspection,

(e) any application or other document delivered to the registrar under section 29 (application for rectification of register),

(f) any court order under section 30 (rectification of the register under court order) that the court has directed under section 31 is not to be made available for public inspection, and

(g) any email address, identification code or password deriving from a document delivered for the purpose of authorising or facilitating electronic filing procedures or providing information by telephone.

(2) Date of birth information or residential address information is “protected” if—

(a) it relates to a registrable beneficial owner or managing officer in relation to an overseas entity,

(b) it is contained in a document delivered to the registrar in which date of birth information or residential address information is required to be stated,

(c) in the case of a document having more than one part, it is contained in a part of the document in which date of birth information or residential address information is required to be stated, and

(d) it is not information about a trust delivered to the registrar by virtue of section 4(3), 7(3) or (4) or 9(3) or (4).

(3) In this section—

• “date of birth information” means information as to the day of the month on which an individual was born (but not the month or year);

• “residential address information” means—

  (a)

  information as to the usual residential address of an individual, or

  (b)

  information that the service address of an individual is the individual’s usual residential address.

(4) Nothing in this section obliges the registrar to check documents other than those mentioned in subsection (2)(b), or parts of documents other than those mentioned in subsection (2)(c), to ensure the absence of date of birth information or residential address information.

Commencement Information

I2 S. 22 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69

23 Disclosure of information about trusts U.K.

(1) This section applies to information delivered to the registrar by virtue of section 4(3), 7(3) or (4) or 9(3) or (4) (required information about trusts).

(2) The registrar may not disclose the information unless—

(a) the same information is made available by the registrar for public inspection otherwise than by virtue of being delivered to the registrar by virtue of a provision mentioned in subsection (1), or

(b) the disclosure is permitted by subsection (3).

(3) The registrar may disclose the information to—

(a) the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, or

(b) any other person who—

(i) has functions of a public nature, and

(ii) is specified for the purposes of this section by regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(4) Regulations under this section are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

Commencement Information

I3 S. 23 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69

24 Disclosure of protected information U.K.

(1) The registrar must not disclose protected date of birth information or protected residential address information about a person unless—

(a) the same information about the person (whether in the same or a different capacity) is made available by the registrar for public inspection as a result of being contained in another description of document in relation to which no restriction under section 22 applies, or

(b) disclosure is permitted by subsection (2).

(2) The registrar may disclose protected date of birth information or residential address information to any person who—

(a) has functions of a public nature, and

(b) is specified for the purposes of this section by regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision—

(a) specifying conditions for the disclosure of protected date of birth information or residential address information in accordance with this section, and

(b) providing for the charging of fees.

(4) This section does not apply to protected date of birth information, or protected residential address information, about a person in their capacity as a registrable beneficial owner or managing officer if an application under regulations made under section 25 has been granted in respect of that information and has not been revoked.

(5) In this section—

• “date of birth information” has the meaning given by section 22(3);

• “protected” has the meaning given by section 22(2);

• “residential address information” has the meaning given by section 22(3).

(6) Regulations under this section are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

Commencement Information

I4 S. 24 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69

25 Power to protect other information U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision requiring the registrar, on application—

(a) to make information relating to a relevant individual unavailable for public inspection, and

(b) to refrain from disclosing that information or to refrain from doing so except in specified circumstances.

(2) In this section “relevant individual” means an individual who is or used to be—

(a) a registrable beneficial owner in relation to an overseas entity, or

(b) a managing officer of an overseas entity.

(3) Regulations under this section may make provision as to—

(a) who may make an application,

(b) the grounds on which an application may be made,

(c) the information to be included in and documents to accompany an application,

(d) how an application is to be determined,

(e) the recording of restrictions in the register,

(f) the duration of and procedures for revoking the restrictions on disclosure, and

(g) the charging of fees by the registrar for disclosing information where the regulations permit disclosure, by way of exception, in specified circumstances.

(4) The provision that may be made under subsection (3)(d) or (f) includes provision—

(a) conferring a discretion on the registrar;

(b) providing for a question to be referred to a person other than the registrar for the purposes of determining the application or revoking the restrictions.

(5) Regulations under this section may impose a duty on the registrar to publish, in relation to such periods as may be specified—

(a) details of how many applications have been made under the regulations and how many of them have been allowed, and

(b) such other details in connection with applications under the regulations as may be specified in the regulations.

(6) Regulations under this section are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

(7) Nothing in this section or in regulations made under it affects the disclosure of information about a person in any capacity other than that mentioned in subsection (2).

Commencement Information

I5 S. 25 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69

26 Data protection U.K.

(1) Nothing in section 21, 23 or 24 authorises or requires a disclosure of information which, although made in accordance with that section, would contravene the data protection legislation.

(2) In this section “the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act).

Commencement Information

I6 S. 26 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 69