Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

139 Disclosure of information about partners U.K.

(1) The Limited Partnerships Act 1907 is amended as follows.

(2) After section 16B of the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 (inserted by section 138 of this Act) insert—

“Restriction on disclosure of information by registrar U.K.

16C Restriction on disclosure of information by registrar

(1) The registrar must not disclose protected date of birth information or protected residential address information except—

(a) in accordance with subsection (2) or (3),

(b) in accordance with section 16E (disclosure of protected residential address information under court order), or

(c) as permitted by section 1110F of the Companies Act 2006 (general powers of disclosure by the registrar).

(2) The registrar may disclose protected date of birth information or protected residential address information if the same information is required to be made available for public inspection as a result of being contained in a document, part of a document or record to which section 16A(1) does not apply.

(3) The registrar may disclose protected date of birth information or protected residential address information to a credit reference agency.

(4) The Secretary of State may make provision by regulations specifying conditions for the disclosure of protected date of birth information or protected residential address information in accordance with subsection (3).

(5) The Secretary of State may make provision by regulations requiring the registrar, on application, to refrain from disclosing protected date of birth information or protected residential address information to a credit reference agency.

(6) Regulations under subsection (5) may make provision of the kind referred to in section 243(5) to (6A) of the Companies Act 2006.

(7) In this section—

• “credit reference agency” means a person carrying on a business comprising the provision of information relevant to the financial standing of individuals, being information collected by the agency for that purpose;

• “protected date of birth information” has the meaning given by section 16A(3);

• “protected residential address information” has the meaning given by section 16A(3).

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

Restriction on use or disclosure of information by partners U.K.

16D Restriction on use or disclosure of information by partners

(1) A limited partner must not—

(a) use or disclose protected residential address information, except for communicating with the individual concerned, or

(b) use or disclose protected date of birth information.

(2) A general partner must not use or disclose protected residential address information, except—

(a) for communicating with the individual concerned,

(b) in order to comply with any requirement of this Act as to information to be sent to the registrar, or

(c) in accordance with section 16E (disclosure of residential address information under court order).

(3) A general partner must not use or disclose protected date of birth information except in order to comply with any requirement of this Act as to information to be sent to the registrar.

(4) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) do not prohibit any use or disclosure of protected date of birth information or protected residential address information with the consent of the individual concerned.

(5) If a partner uses or discloses information in contravention of subsection (1), (2) or (3) an offence is committed by—

(a) the partner, and

(b) if the partner is a legal entity, any of its managing officers who is in default.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction—

(a) in England and Wales, to a fine;

(b) in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale and, for continued contravention, a daily default fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 5 on the standard scale.

(7) A managing officer is “in default” for the purposes of this section if they authorise or permit, participate in, or fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent, the contravention.

(8) But a corporate managing officer does not commit an offence as a managing officer in default unless one of its managing officers is in default.

(9) Where any such offence is committed by a corporate managing officer the managing officer in question also commits the offence (subject to subsection (8)).

(10) In this section—

• “protected date of birth information” has the meaning given by section 16A(3);

• “protected residential address information” has the meaning given by section 16A(3).

Disclosure of protected residential address information under court order U.K.

16E Disclosure of protected residential address information under court order

(1) The court may make an order for the disclosure of protected residential address information by the appropriate limited partnership or by the registrar if—

(a) there is evidence that service of documents at a service address other than the individual’s usual residential address is not effective to bring them to the notice of the individual, or

(b) it is necessary or expedient for the information to be provided in connection with the enforcement of an order or decree of the court,

and the court is otherwise satisfied that it is appropriate to make the order.

(2) An order for disclosure by the registrar may be made only if—

(a) the appropriate limited partnership does not have the protected residential address information, or

(b) the appropriate limited partnership was dissolved.

(3) The order may be made on the application of a liquidator, creditor or partner of the appropriate limited partnership, or any other person appearing to the court to have a sufficient interest.

(4) The order must specify the persons to whom, and purposes for which, disclosure is authorised.

(5) In this section—

• “appropriate limited partnership” —

  (a)

  in relation to protected residential address information about a partner in a limited partnership means that limited partnership;

  (b)

  in relation to protected residential address information about a registered officer of a general partner in a limited partnership means that limited partnership;

  (c)

  in relation to protected residential address information about a named contact for the managing officer of a general partner in a limited partnership means that limited partnership;

• “named contact” has the meaning given by section 8K(5);

• “protected residential address information” has the meaning given by section 16A(3);

• “registered officer” has the meaning given by section 8K(4).”

(3) In section 3 (interpretation of terms), in subsection (1) (created by section 110 of this Act), at the appropriate place insert—

• ““the court” has the same meaning as in the Companies Acts (see section 1156 of the Companies Act 2006);”.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 139 in force at Royal Assent for specified purposes, see s. 219(1)(2)(b)