Cayman Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Laws, 2020

There has been an amendment of the Companies Laws, 2020 by way of the Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Laws, 2020 gazetted on 22 May 2020 and a Commencement Order will bring in force on 29 June 2020 certain provisions summarised by CIMA as follows:

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1. Striking Off for Failure to Pay Fines:

Section 156A has been inserted which gives the Registrar the power to strike a company if an administrative fine imposed pursuant to the new Part XVIIB remains unpaid for 90 days.

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2. Application:

Section 245 is amended to delete the words “(other than a company registered as an excluded person under section 5(4) of the Securities Investment Business Law (2020 Revision)” wherever they appear.

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3. Beneficial Ownership Provisions:

(a) Section 256 is amended so that where the corporate services provider (“CSP”) is of the opinion that a company has failed to comply with section 253 (company has failed to provide to CSP particulars as to registrable persons) or section 255 (company has failed to provide to CSP changes with respect to registrable persons), the CSP has a duty to issue a restrictions notice (“RN”) and send a copy to the Competent Authority;

(b) Section 265 is amended to give the right to issue a restriction notice to the CSP;

(c) Sections 270 and 271 are amended to give the CSP the right to apply to the Grand Court for a relaxation of a restrictions notice;

(d) Section 273 is amended to impose a duty on a CSP the withdraw a restriction notice in certain circumstances. The heading to the section may be misleading as it speaks to “may” when it should say “shall”;

(e) Section 280 is amended to give the Cabinet the power to make regulations to be followed by CSPs in issuing or withdrawing restrictions notices

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4. Administrative Fines:

(1) The Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Law inserts into the Law a new Part, Part XVIIB -Administrative Fines.

(2) The provisions of the new Part give the Registrar the power to impose administrative fines for a number of breaches of the Law, with the breaches being stated in a new Schedule 7 to the Law; all of the breaches stated in the new Schedule 7 relate to the provisions of Part XVIIA of the Companies Law, Beneficial Ownership Registers.

(3) The fine for a single breach is CI $ 5,000.00 with a further fine of CI $ 1,000.00 for every month that the breach continues, up to a maximum fine for a breach of CI $ 25,000.00;

(4) There are 19 possible breaches set out in the new Schedule 7;

(5) The Registrar is given the power (section 281F) to issue guidance on the enforcement of administrative fines and the power (section 281G) to make rules, to be published in the Gazette, for aggravating and mitigating factors.

(6) The transitional provision which state that the power of the Registrar to impose administrative fines shall not apply to any person (presumably, to a CSP) until 30 days after the Bill has become law has been taken out.

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5. Amendment of Schedules:

Section 282 is amended to insert the new Schedule 7.

Please find here links to the Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Law and Commencement Order: –

https://www.cima.ky/upimages/commonfiles/CompaniesAmendmentNo.2Law,2020_1590507482.PDF
https://www.cima.ky/upimages/commonfiles/CompaniesAmendmentNo.2Law,2020CommencementOrder,2020_1591813134.PDF

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As a result of the new obligations imposed upon the CSP, CSP’s shall be obligated to issue Notices to Companies that have yet to provide the requisite information for registrable persons. In this respect, if information is not provided within 30 days of receipt of the notice, the CSP will be obligated to issue restriction notices directly to shareholders which would have severe adverse consequences to their interests in the Company. If your Company has yet to provide any such requested information, you are strongly advised to contact your relationship manager to attend to this.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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PORTCULLIS GROUP
www.portcullis.co

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開曼群島2020年(第二號修正)公司法

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2020年公司法已經修正，修正後成為2020年（第2號修正）公司法，公告於2020年5月22日的政府公報上，且政府下達一項實施令（Commencement Order），令其中若干條款於2020年6月29日生效執行，該些條款由開曼群島金融管理局彙總如下：

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1. 未繳罰款者除名：

增訂第156A條，該條規定：依新法第十七B篇處以行政罰款後90日仍未繳納罰款者，註冊處有權依該條款將該公司除名。

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2. 適用：

第245條被修正，修正後條款刪除在任何條款中出現的「依證券投資事業法（2020年修改版）第5(4)條註冊為被排除人的公司除外」等語。

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3. 最終受益人條款：

(a) 第256條被修正，修正後規定：若法人服務提供公司（下稱「服務公司」）認為某公司未遵守第253條規定（該公司未向服務公司提供有關可登記人的詳細資料）或第255條規定（該公司未向服務公司提供有關可登記人的變更資料），則服務公司有義務發出限制通知書（下稱「限制通知」），並向主管機關提交一份副本。

(b) 第265條被修正，修正後賦予服務公司發出限制通知的權利。

(c) 第270及271條被修正，修正後賦予服務公司向大法院申請放寬限制通知的權利。

(d) 第273條被修正，修正後賦予服務公司在若干情況下撤銷限制通知的義務。
本條款的標題可能誤導，因在其應使用「應」字時，卻使用了「得」字。

(e) 第280條被修正，修正後賦予內閣訂定服務公司在發出或撤銷限制通知時應遵守的法規的權力。

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4. 行政罰款：

(1)（第2號修正）公司法新增一篇內容，即第十七B篇 – 行政罰款。

(2) 新增篇章的條款，賦予註冊處針對許多違法行為處以行政罰款的權力，而該些違法行為明訂於新增附錄7中。新增附錄7所明訂的所有違法行為，皆牽涉公司法第十七A篇關於最終受益人名冊的條款規定。

(3) 單一違法行為處以罰款開曼幣 $5,000.00，違法行為持續者，加徵每月罰款開曼幣 $1,000.00，單一違法行為的最高罰款為開曼幣 $25,000.00。

(4) 新增附錄7明列了19項可能的違法行為。

(5) 註冊處被賦予發布行政罰款執行導引的權力（第281F條），亦被賦予訂定加重或減輕案由因素的規則（應刊登於公報上）的權力（第281G條）。

(6) 註冊處以行政罰款的權力，在法案正式成為法律後30日屆滿前不適用於任何人（據推測，不適用於服務公司）的過渡條款規定，已被廢除。

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5. 附錄的修正：

第282條被修正，修正後新增了附錄 7。

在此附上存取（第2號修正）公司法及實施令（Commencement Order）的連結如下：

https://www.cima.ky/upimages/commonfiles/CompaniesAmendmentNo.2Law,2020_1590507482.PDF
https://www.cima.ky/upimages/commonfiles/CompaniesAmendmentNo.2Law,2020CommencementOrder,2020_1591813134.PDF

基於法律對服務公司新加的職責，服務公司有義務對尚未提供可登記人必要資料的公司發出通知。因此，若在接獲通知後30日內仍未提供資料者，服務公司有義務直接向股東發出限制通知，如此一來，股東對公司的權益將發生嚴重負面後果。若 貴公司尚未提供上述要求的任何資料，請務必洽詢 貴公司的關係經理處理此事。

感謝 貴公司對此事的關注。

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保得利集團
www.portcullis.co