Background
In November 2017 the Government published a series of measures
which it intended to take to tackle white collar crime (the
"Measures"). One of the Measures was to establish a new
independent corporate law enforcement agency, to overcome some of
the difficulties currently faced by the Office of the Director of
Corporate Enforcement (the "ODCE"), which operates as an
Office of the Department of Business, Enterprise and
Innovation.
The Government has recently published draft legislation, the
General Scheme of the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority)
Bill 2018 (the "Scheme"), which if ultimately enacted
will give effect to that proposal. 1
New Authority
The Scheme provides that the new body will be called the
Corporate Enforcement Authority (the "Authority"). The
Authority will comprise of between one and three full time members,
who will be appointed for a period of five years (with a
possibility of reappointment for a further five year term).
