The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (ECCT Bill) has completed the committee stage in the House of Lords. A version of the Bill as amended by the House of Lords has been published.
The ECCT Bill, which will now move to the House of Lords report stage for further scrutiny, contains the draft amendments to the Companies Act 2006 to facilitate the reform of Companies House. The ECCT Bill is expected to become law later this year.
Key additions to the Bill made by the House of Lords include:
- New failure to prevent fraud corporate offence – Under the proposed new offence, an in-scope organisation will be strictly liable if a specified fraud offence is committed by an employee, agent or subsidiary, and the organisation did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place (for further information, see our blog post here).
- Criminal offences relating to the register of members – A new duty will be imposed on members to notify to companies the information required to be included on the register of members (being the member’s full name and a service address) and any changes to that information. Companies will also be able to serve a notice on members requiring them to provide the information. Failure to supply the information or the making of a false statement will be a criminal offence.
- Sanctions and director disqualification – The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 will be amended so that individuals may be disqualified from being directors for breaches of the UK sanctions regime.
For further information, please contact:
Sarah Hawes, Herbert Smith Freehills
sarah.hawes@hsf.com
