The Government of the British Virgin Islands recently gazetted the BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Act 2015 (the Amending Act). If passed into law as expected, it will be the thirteenth and most recent amendment to the successful BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (the Principal Act). Most of the proposed changes set out in the Amending Act came from a private sector committee that Harneys is fully involved with and it would be fair to say that the committee initially focussed upon fine tuning modifications rather than wholesale changes.
A number of the changes will dovetail with the recently announced new "premium service" function at the Companies Registry to facilitate "time sensitive, complex and special transactions" such as continuations to facilitate more difficult commercial transactions.
Generally speaking, most of the refinements should be warmly welcomed by the financial services community. The only provisions which may provoke controversy are those relating to the obligations with respect to registers of directors (which did not form part of the private sector's recommendations, but were part of the BVI Government's international commitments to assist foreign law enforcement authorities, and replicate similar changes in Cayman and other British Overseas Territories).
Assuming the bill passes its third reading as expected, the Amending Act will come into force on a date proclaimed by the Governor.
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