The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the low-tax financial hub, is proposing reforms to the regulation of companies, including imposing new beneficial ownership disclosure requirements.
Four consultation papers have been released containing draft legislation as follows: new Companies Regulations, new DIFC Operating Law and Regulations and related legislation, new Ultimate Beneficial
Ownership Regulations, and new Protected Cell Company Regulations and Investment Company Regulations.
According to the DIFC, the new Companies Regulations sets out the legislative framework for matters affecting companies alone, while matters of a more general business regulatory nature affecting all DIFC entities will be provided for within the framework of the new DIFC Operating Law and Regulations.
The proposed new Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Regulations will formalize the requirement for DIFC entities to provide information on their ultimate beneficial owners. This requirement will be imposed at the point of incorporation or registration, with a further obligation to update this information annually if there is a change in ultimate beneficial ownership.
The Protected Cell Company Regulations and Investment Company Regulations will be separate stand-alone regulations dealing with these specific entities.
The legislative proposals have been posted for a 30-day public consultation period with the deadline for providing comments ending on June 24, 2018.
By Courtesy of Lowtax.net
