Crown Dependencies delay opening up company ownership registers

The Manx government has paused plans to make company ownership data public

Plans for public access to company ownership records on the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are to be reviewed amid concerns about privacy.

It follows a judgement by the European Court of Justice which found public access "in all cases" could violate certain human rights.

In a joint statement, the Crown Dependencies said legal advice was needed after the ruling.

The three territories had previously committed to creating public registers.

The island's of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are offshore finance centres

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement follows actions brought by a company in Luxembourg and its beneficial owner.

They had failed in a bid to restrict general public access to information about them contained on the country's beneficial ownership register.

The matter was referred to the ECJ, which ruled public access "constitutes a serious interference with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data".

The ruling said information disclosed about company owners can allow a "potentially unlimited" number of people to find out their finances, and risk possible "abuse of their personal data".

But ownership data could be released when "appropriate" to help tackle anti money-laundering and terrorist financing, the judgement added.

The chief ministers of the Crown Dependencies committed to public registers in 2019

The Crown Dependencies had made a commitment to bring forward plans to create public beneficial ownership registers in 2023, as part of efforts to comply with international standards.

In a statement they said that must now wait until legal advice on the ECJ judgement had been sought.

The ruling has also led to a delay in giving regulated firms permission to access the register to conduct due diligence checks on customers.

But the Crown Dependencies said obtaining legal advice should be completed in "early in 2023", and the intention was to open up records to "obliged entities" as soon as possible afterwards.