On 15 August 2017 the Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons (Guernsey) Law, 2017 (the "Law") came into operation. The effect of the Law is, amongst other things, to create and establish Guernsey's first centralised but non-public register of beneficial owners for Guernsey entities (the "Register").
The purpose of this note is to outline requirements and implications for Guernsey legal entities, their resident agents and beneficial owners as a result of the Law and Register coming into effect.
Who is under the duty to disclose information?
The Law places duties on the resident agents and beneficial owners of "Relevant Legal Persons" to disclose the "required particulars" of the "beneficial owners".
In that regard, the required particulars of a natural person are his or her name, nationality, date of birth, principal residential address, when he or she became a beneficial owner and the grounds on which he or she is considered to be a beneficial owner (see more on this below).
The required particulars of a corporate beneficial owner to be recorded on the Register are, the Relevant Legal Person type, name, registration number, jurisdiction of incorporation, registered office address and percentage of shares or voting rights held.
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.