The government of Jersey opened a consultation on draft legislation concerning obliged entity access to Jersey’s central register of beneficial ownership and control. Proposed access will be for persons obliged to conduct customer due diligence (CDD) under the Money Laundering (Jersey) Order 2008.
In 2022, the government of Jersey issued a high-level consultation paper on proposals to implement obliged entity access in 2023, This was in line with a 2019 joint commitment by the governments of Guernsey and the Isle of Man (‘Crown Dependencies’) on transparency of beneficial ownership and control.
However, following decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights that recognised the incompatibility of public access with the right to privacy, the Crown Dependencies sought legal advice on their proposed approach on access to the registers.
As a result of the advice obtained, the Crown Dependencies issued a revised joint commitment in December last year, which agreed to deliver obliged entity access in 2024 and develop and deliver legitimate interest access for media and civil society organisations in a leading timeframe.
The deadline for comments in respect of obliged entity access to information is 7 June.