header-logo header-logo

ECCTA 2023 reforms at Companies House

06 March 2024
Issue: 8062 / Categories: Legal News , Commercial , Company
printer mail-detail
Stronger checks on company names are being carried out from this week, as the first measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) come into force

From 4 March, Companies House has greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence, tackle and remove factually inaccurate information, and share data with government departments and law enforcement agencies. Companies must supply a registered email address and can no longer use a PO Box as their registered office address.

Also from this week, anyone forming a company must confirm they are doing so for a ’lawful purpose’ and that future activities will be lawful.

Companies House CEO Louise Smyth said: ‘These new and enhanced powers are the most significant change for Companies House in our 180-year history. We are prioritising cases where people’s names and addresses have been used without their consent.’

ECCTA 2023 will have a phased roll out. Future reforms include identity verification and a requirement to submit profit and loss accounts. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll