I am so glad that I read it right. The UK is directly responsible for the OTs’ and the CDs’ compliance with international obligations, including the European Convention on Human Rights. It is our responsibility in international
law, as the overseas territories have no legal personality under international law. That was a key factor in the UK taking the rare step to legislate for the OTs on the issue of, for example, the decriminalisation of homosexuality. While I acknowledge the moral dimension of tackling criminal finances, the same responsibility does not exist for financial services policy, which is OT government responsibility.
6.45 pm
I am sorry that I have taken up so much of noble Lords’ time, but this debate has created a lot of interest in the Chamber. I will talk now about the long-term ambition. The UK is the only G20 country to have established a public register, which has been in operation for less than a year. The Government have made it very clear that it is the Government’s long-term ambition that publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership will in time become the global standard. Should this happen, we would expect the overseas territories and Crown dependencies to implement this standard. Given that so many jurisdictions fail even to reach the standards set by the Financial Action Task Force for beneficial ownership transparency, it is right to focus our efforts on persuading others to up their game, while ensuring that the overseas territories, as well as the Crown dependencies, deliver on what they have promised.
Finally, on the Opposition’s Amendment 168, as noble Lords will be aware, the Government announced at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May last year their intention to create a register of overseas company beneficial ownership information where the company owns UK property. The register will be an important tool in law enforcement investigations and will bring transparency to the ownership and control of overseas companies that own UK property. I welcome the Opposition’s support for this proposal and hope that it will go some way to addressing the concerns raised by my noble friend Lord Faulks last week. Since the summit, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been working closely with experts in many disciplines to develop the proposals and ensure that the register will work effectively across the whole UK.
The policy is unusually multifaceted, bringing together complex legal areas of international company law and land law across the UK. It is therefore taking time to develop effective proposals to ensure that we deliver full transparency without creating undue burdens on business or adversely impacting commercial property transactions. We intend to publish a call for evidence, which will set out the policy proposals in full, in the coming weeks. We will also introduce legislation to implement the register as soon as parliamentary time allows.
I will mop up some other questions that were asked. My noble friend Lord Kirkhope asked whether all the overseas territories will have central registers by June. I think he probably knows the answer by now, given the debate that we have had, which is that all the territories are working towards implementation by June 2017. I should make noble Lords aware that in the cases of Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands, specific challenges have arisen.
Anguilla is a very small jurisdiction of just 15,000 people, and has faced in the last year the significant challenge of the resolution of its two national banks, which has placed certain constraints on its public finances. It has therefore requested support to fund the upgrade of its electronic register, which UK officials are currently considering. While it is important that Anguilla is held to the same standard as other overseas territories, I am sure that noble Lords will appreciate the need to follow all proper processes to ensure value for money and the use of any UK public funds.
In the Turks and Caicos Islands, general elections were held in December 2016 and a new Government were elected. In February my noble friend Lady Anelay met the newly elected Premier, who confirmed her intention to stand by the agreement signed by her predecessor. The Premier has also recently instructed that the drafting of the necessary legislation to give effect to the arrangements should begin and that a project should be prepared on IT infrastructure and related issues.
The noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, asked about the verification of—oh, he has gone; I think I might have bored him to death, but I will get my reply on the record. The UK register of PSCs is public, which means that many people view the information and check its accuracy. The UK does not directly verify the information on the register; instead, it relies on others to check it in the course of using the register.
The noble Lord, Lord Rosser, asked about the timing of legislation on the public register of beneficial ownership. He will understand that I cannot say what legislation might be announced in this House in the coming months. However, I can assure him that it is my strong expectation that legislation to introduce a public register of beneficial ownership of UK property will be introduced before the end of the Parliament.
My noble friend Lord Kirkhope asked about similarly effective systems and electronic search platforms. As he explained, under the bilateral arrangements concluded with the UK, some jurisdictions have opted to establish an electronic search platform allowing them to access beneficial ownership information. The exchange of notes permits similarly effective arrangements provided that the following criteria are met: law enforcement authorities can obtain beneficial ownership information without restriction, and this information is available for both civil and criminal proceedings; law enforcement authorities can quickly identify all corporate and legal entities connected to a beneficial owner without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and corporate and legal entities or those to whom the beneficial ownership information relates are not to be alerted to the fact that a request has been made or that an investigation is under way. We will be monitoring this arrangement to ensure that it does indeed provide the same results.
My noble friend Lord Hodgson asked whether TCSPs are regulated. They are regulated in the OTs by their financial service commission or monetary authorities. Law enforcement authorities have reported enhanced co-operation since the signing of
the exchange of notes, and we expect to see co-operation improve further once the deadline for full implementation is reached.
I am sorry that I have taken so long. I hope that I have given as fulsome an explanation as noble Lords expected.