Notice issued by the Premier’s Office of The British Virgin Islands

We have received a Notice issued by the Premier’s Office of The British Virgin Islands regarding certain legislative changes to be implemented as of January 1st, 2016 in respect of beneficial ownership information and registers of directors of BVI companies.

With respect to beneficial ownership information, the Eligible Introducer Regime will be modified to require registered agents relying on Eligible Introducer Letters to maintain, as of January 1st, 2016, the following beneficial ownership information: beneficial owners’ names, dates of birth, residential addresses and nationalities. The registered agent only needs the aforementioned information; it is not required to hold copies of any documentation of the beneficial owner. For companies in existence prior to January 1st, 2016, the beneficial ownership information described above will have to be obtained by the resident agent by December 31, 2016.

With respect to registers of directors, the BVI Business Companies Act will be amended to require the private filing of registers of directors for all companies, for use only by the competent authorities. The register will only include information on current directors (not historical directors). For companies in existence as of January 1st, 2016, the register of directors will have to be filed by December 31, 2016.

The proposed changes have yet to be implemented. Therefore, we will provide more detailed information regarding the proposed changes, their implementation, and the measures to be taken in order to comply with them, in due course. We will keep you updated.