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PSC reporting to Companies House speeds up

Chris Hamblin, Editor, London, 26 July 2017

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British companies and limited liability partnerships must now notify the registrar at Companies House of changes to their lists of "persons of significant control" almost immediately.

The change is enshrined in the Information about People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017, which brings British law into line with the European Union's fourth money laundering directive.

Section 9 of the regulations inserts a new section 790VA into the Companies Act 2006, stating in section 790VA(2) that the company in question must give notice to the registrar of the change made to its PSC register, and the date on which the change was made, before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the day after it makes the change.

Section 1060(3) Companies Act says that “the registrar of companies” and “the registrar” mean the registrar of companies for England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may require.

Section 790VA(2) applies when a company enters/alters required particulars in its PSC register, or notes in its PSC register an additional matter that it is obliged to note by regulations under section 790M(7), i.e. at the request of the Secretary of State in any regulations he might issue.

Section 26 of the regulation applies these rules to LLPs.

As the regime, which has been operating imperfectly for more than a year, was designed from the outset to frustrate money launderers, the EU's new 'significant controller' regime, itself inspired by the UK, has made little difference.

It does, however, dictate that only companies admitted to trading on an EU-regulated market are exempt from having to make disclosures, so the UK has had to waive the previous exclusions that benefited companies traded on the Alternative Investment Market and NEX Exchange (formerly ISDX). Unregistered firms must report also. Firms that have just come into the ambit of the disclosure rules ought to begin to comply this week.

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