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ARTICLE · 22 MARCH 2016

Recent Changes To BVI Legislation

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First, there have been amendments to the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 ('BCA') which provide for the filing for registration by the Registrar of Corporate Affairs ('Registrar') of copies of a company's register of members and register of directors.

British Virgin IslandsLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Niki Olympitis
Niki Olympitis
Sara-Jane Knock
Sara-Jane Knock
Lynette Ramoutar
Lynette Ramoutar
Lucy Hannett
Lucy Hannett
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The BVI's response to the UK government's call to the Overseas Territories for greater transparency in beneficial ownership has been incorporated in recent changes to BVI legislation. These are designed to achieve compliance with the Financial Action Task Force's Forty Recommendations[1] and are intended to ensure that the identity of the ultimate beneficial owners of BVI companies can be provided to the BVI regulator and other competent authorities in the BVI upon request. Most of these changes came into force on 1 January 2016.

First, there have been amendments to the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 ('BCA') which provide for the filing for registration by the Registrar of Corporate Affairs ('Registrar') of copies of a company's register of members and register of directors. Under the previous s.231 BCA, filing of both the register of members and the register of directors was optional. That section has now been repealed. Under the new s.43A BCA, the filing of the

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