On 23 June 2017, the Information about People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017 ("PSC Amendment Regulations") were published, transposing certain requirements of the EU's Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The regulations came into force on 26 June 2017.
The PSC Amendment Regulations made various amendments to the PSC regime including the following key changes:
- Adding a new requirement on companies to update their own
registers and to inform Companies House of the changes to their PSC
register. The time limits under this new requirement are as
follows:
- the internal PSC Register must be updated within 14 days of becoming aware that a person meets the conditions for entry onto the PSC Register; and
- the central public register (for example, Companies House for English companies) must be updated within a further 14 days;
- The PSC Register regime extends to companies admitted to trading on prescribed markets (such as AIM and NEX Exchange) but does not apply to companies listed on the UK main market.
- The PSC Register regime applies also to unregistered companies, Scottish limited partnerships and Scottish qualifying general partnerships;
- The registration requirements for the new companies that have been brought within the scope of the PSC Register regime will apply from 24 July 2017.
The new notification requirements do not apply to changes to a company's PSC register which took place prior to 26 June 2017 which were notified to the central register in the company's annual confirmation statement. However, for changes made prior to 26 June 2017 which have not been notified to the central register must be notified to Companies House within 14 days of 26 June 2017 under the new regime.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has also published its revised draft statutory guidance on these changes.
The full text of the guidance is available here:
and here:
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
