Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022

Exemptions

17 Power to modify application process etc in certain cases

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations modify the application requirements or the update requirements in relation to overseas entities of a description specified in the regulations.

(2) The regulations may modify the application or update requirements in relation to a description of overseas entity only if the Secretary of State considers that the modifications are appropriate in light of the information that is publicly available otherwise than by virtue of this Part.

(3) Regulations under subsection (1) may make such modifications to this Part as are consequential on those regulations.

(4) Regulations under subsection (1) are subject to the negative resolution procedure.

(5) In this section—

• “the application requirements” means the requirements as to the contents of applications under section 4 or 9;

• “the update requirements” means the requirements as to the material that must be delivered to the registrar under section 7.

18 Exemptions

(1) The Secretary of State may, by giving written notice to a person, exempt the person under this section if satisfied that to do so is necessary—

(a) in the interests of national security;

(b) for the purposes of preventing or detecting serious crime.

(2) The effect of an exemption is that—

(a) overseas entities are not required to take steps or give notices under section 12 in relation to the exempt person,

(b) the exempt person is not required to comply with any notice given by an overseas entity under section 12 or 13 if the exempt person brings the existence of the exemption to the attention of the entity,

(c) a notice given by an overseas entity under section 13 does not require any other person to supply information about the exempt person, and

(d) the exempt person does not count as a registrable beneficial owner in relation to any overseas entity for the purposes of this Part.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)—

(a) “crime” means conduct which—

(i) constitutes a criminal offence, or

(ii) is, or corresponds to, any conduct which, if it all took place in any one part of the United Kingdom, would constitute a criminal offence, and

(b) crime is “serious” if—

(i) the offence which is or would be constituted by the conduct is an offence for which the maximum sentence (in any part of the United Kingdom) is imprisonment for 3 years or more, or

(ii) the conduct involves the use of violence, results in substantial financial gain or is conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose.