The bill consolidates into one law the beneficial ownership rules contained in the Law on Commercial Companies, the Law on Limited Liability Companies and the Law on Limited Liability Partnerships.
To address the commitment made by the Cayman Islands to the UK in 2019 to introduce public beneficial ownership information registries, the bill includes a provision that would allow the Cabinet to enact regulations to make certain beneficial ownership information publicly available.
Before public access can move forward, Parliament must approve such rules at a future meeting of Parliament. This will not happen until discussions are finalized with the UK and other Overseas Territories as well as Crown dependencies regarding the necessary privacy safeguards, given the landmark decision of the European Court of Justice in November 2022. The decision canceled public access to registers of beneficial owners in the EU on the basis of their interference with privacy and data protection rights.м