Companies House is aiming to introduce the first set of measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March 2024.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which received Royal Asset last October, gives Companies House the power to play a more significant role in disrupting economic crime and supporting economic growth.
The first set of changes includes:
- greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence
- stronger checks on company names
- new rules for registered office addresses
- a requirement for all companies to supply a registered email address
- a requirement for all companies to confirm they’re forming the company for a lawful purpose when they incorporate, and to confirm its intended future activities will be lawful on their confirmation statement
- the ability to annotate the register when information appears confusing or misleading
- taking steps to clean up the register, using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information
- sharing data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies
Other measures under the act, such as identity verification, will be introduced later.
