Following government guidance that updates to UK Companies Registries brought about by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) would start to come into force over the course of 2024, the Companies House Registrar (Registrar) has confirmed that initial changes reflected in the ECCTA will be introduced beginning in March 2024.
The precise commencement date for the initial changes remains unknown at present, in addition to the timetable for all updates. As mentioned in our previous LawFlash, changes made by the act will be implemented through a series of commencement orders in 2024 and beyond to allow companies time to adjust.
The Registrar will have greater powers to query, scrutinise and reject information that appears to be incorrect or inconsistent with information that is already on the register. In taking steps to clean up the register, Companies House will begin using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information, and the register will be annotated to let users know of any potential issues with the information which has been supplied.
Included in the Registrar’s powers will be the ability to check company names. The Registrar will have the power to reject any names which it believes facilitates crime or suggests a connection with foreign governments or international institutions as well as names containing computer code.
The ECCTA requires that a company must have both a registered office and email address that is “appropriate”. The main change going forward is that companies will no longer be able to use a PO Box as their address, and the registered email in use must come to the attention of an individual acting on behalf of the company.
Further, each company will now be required to confirm at incorporation that they are forming the company for a lawful purpose. Every year following incorporation, the company’s confirmation statement will need a declaration that its future activities will be lawful.
The Registrar will also now have the power to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies if it is believed that a company may be carrying out or facilitating unlawful activity.
For more information about further changes to UK Companies Registries, read our December 2023 LawFlash.
If you have any questions or would like more information on the issues discussed in this LawFlash, please contact any of the following: