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What is the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill? | Companies House proposed measures and implementation.

What is the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill? | Companies House proposed measures and implementation.

Mike Wakeford

The government has been working on passing the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill into law. Recently, the new bill received royal assent, meaning that all rules within the account have now become law. This is a significant moment in the progression of Companies House. The new rules within the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill aims to allow Companies House more control over disrupting economic crimes.
 
The measures set out in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill give Companies House new and enhanced powers to improve the quality and reliability of their data. It also allows Companies House to respond faster in instances where personal information is being used to register without consent.
 
What are the measures being put in place?

  1. Companies House are introducing identity verification for all new and existing registered company directors. This also affects people with significant control and those who file for companies.

  2. The broadening of Companies House’s powers to become a more active gatekeeper of company creation and a guardian of more reliable data.

  3. The ability to improve the information on the register. This is so the register can become more reliable and accurate.

  4. Companies House are being given more effective investigation and enforcement capabilities. They will also have the ability to share any relevant information with partners.

  5. The continuation of advancing their protection of personal information against fraud and other potential areas of harm. In today's world and with the use of current technologies, it is now more important than ever to invest in the safety and protection of companies' data. The security of a company's data from fraudulent behavior and other harms is a main for company’s house in the economic crime and corporate transparency bill.

 
From the updates in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, the Registrar of Companies House has also set vital objectives to meet while carrying out their duties.

  1. To ensure that anyone that needs to deliver a document to Companies House does this promptly and that the requirements for correct delivery are completed effectively.

  2. To make sure that information stored in the register is accurate and that the register contains everything it is meant to contain.

  3. Making sure that all records being kept by the registrar don't create a false or misleading impression to members of the public.

  4. The registrar must prevent any companies or others that are involved in conducting unlawful activities or facilitating others to carry out unlawful activities.

Companies House will base their decisions on these objectives.  The new and improved powers provided to Companies House within the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill give Companies House the tools to act on those decisions.
 
Implementing the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
Although the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill has received royal assent, meaning it is now law, everything at the Companies House is not changing immediately. This is because many changes identified within the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill need further system development and secondary legislation before being introduced.
Although some measures will take some time to come into effect, others are to be implemented sooner. These will lead to much-needed transparency within Companies House Registers. The early measures will include.

  1. Greater powers to query information. This means Companies House have the authority to scrutinize and reject information that seems incorrect or inconsistent with data already on the register. In some cases information will be able to be removed.

  2. Companies House now can complete much stronger checks on company names.

  3. A registered address of a company must be appropriate. Companies will no longer be able to protect the actual address of their office or place of business, as you cannot register with Companies House using a PO box as your registered office address.

  4. All companies must submit a registered email address.

  5. All companies must confirm that they are setting up their business with good intentions and not looking to form their business to engage in unlawful behavior.

  6. Annotations are to be added to Companies House to inform others of any potential issues with information that's been registered to Companies House.

  7. Companies House is trying to clean up the register, using data-matching technology to identify and discard any inaccurate information.

  8. Companies House can now share registered documents with other government departments and law enforcement.

The changes implemented at Companies House with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill are among the most significant changes to Companies House in their history. Uploading your business’s documents to Companies House is becoming a lot stricter with the new legislation, making it vital that it is done correctly and on time with all the new requirements met. If you need help submitting your information to Companies House with the latest changes, contact your nearest Moore firm to find out how we can help you.