New powers for Companies House to query information and to require companies to give legitimate addresses come in to force under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 today. The new regime, aimed at curbing misues of the companies register, will also for the first time require people setting up companies to state that the business' activities will be lawful.

However full identity checks on company directors will not come in to force for some time, Companies House officials said. 

Changes to Companies House introduced today include: 

  • Greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence. 'We'll go from an organisation that accepts information in good faith to one which actively scrutinises information sent to us,' one official said. 

  • Stronger checks on company names, with the ability to remove offensive names or those that falsely imply connections with a foreign government or international organisation.

  • New rules for registered office addresses. All companies must have an 'appropriate address' suitable for service of documents at all times. This must not be a PO box. Companies must also supply a registered email address.

  • A requirement for a formal statement that a company being incorporated is for a lawful purpose and to confirm that its intended future activities will be lawful. While the 'lawful purpose' statement would not in itself stop illegal activity, it provides an extra hook for any subsequent prosecution, Companies House said.   

  • The ability to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies.  

New criminal offences and civil penalties will complement the measures, Companies House said. In all, implementing the provisions of the 2023 act will require some 50 statututory instruments. 

'These new and enhanced powers are the most significant change for Companies House in our 180-year history,' chief executive Louise Smyth said. An early priority is to investigate and remove factually inaccurate information.  'We are prioritising cases where people’s names and addresses have been used without their consent,' Smyth said. 'It will now be much quicker and easier to report and remove personal information that has been misused.'

Other measures in the act, such as identity verification and accounts reform, including a requirement to submit profit and loss accounts, will be introduced over a longer period, Companies House said.  The agency told the Gazette it had recruited more than 160 extra staff to take on the new duties and would hire a further '60 or so' over the coming months.  

 

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