New Legislation for the Registered Agents for BVI Entities

The Government of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has passed a new legislation, that all Registered Agents for BVI companies must upload, to an electronic database, specific information on the Beneficial Owners (BO) of any BVI company that was active as of January 01, 2016. Exemption from this requirement are the companies that were struck off the Register of Companies before January 01, 2016.

The Beneficial Ownership Secure Search (BOSS) Act 2017 will be used in addition with the current BVI’s AML Regulations 2008 and the specific legislation requires agents to store this information and upload it electronically to a central platform.

The deadline given to complete this task is June 30, 2017.  

The information collected for the Beneficial Owners (BO) and of the BVI corporate and legal entities is listed below:

Corporate’s and legal entity’s data that will be accessible through BOSS are:

1. Name

2. Incorporation number and date of Incorporation

3. Registered Address

4. Status (active, dissolved etc)

BO’s data that will be accessible through BOSS are:

1. Name

2. Date of Birth

3. Nationality

4. Residential Address

The definition, as defined by the Act, is the natural person who owns or controls 25% or more of the shares or voting rights in a company or who exercises control over its management.

In cases where a legal arrangement such as a partnership or trust is the beneficial owner, the beneficial owner is the natural person who controls the partnership or the trust (e.g. the general/managing partner of a partnership or the trustee of a trust) or the natural person by whom the legal arrangement was made (e.g. the settlor of a trust).

Where a company is in insolvent liquidation, the beneficial owner is the natural person who has been appointed as liquidator and where the beneficial owner is deceased and was a shareholder in the company, the personal representative or executor of that shareholder’s estate is considered the beneficial owner for the purposes of the Act.

It is the obligation of each company to identify and communicate with its Registered Agent about the required information on its beneficial owners. It should also be noted that any changes regarding the beneficial ownership should be communicated to the Registered Agent within 15 days of the change.

It should be noted that significant penalties and fines can be levied against both companies and Registered Agents which fail to comply with their respective obligations under the Act or which intentionally provide false information.

We are available to provide you with further information regarding the details for the implementation of BOSS.