BVI: Register of Directors Update

“The Association of Registered Agents received the information below from the FSC in relation to the Register of Directors. We hope the information will clarify some questions you may have.
  • Director number
A director number assigned to an individual director is only visible to the VIRRGIN user who has authorized access to that information. The assigned numbers are not sequential and are randomly generated to ensure that it is no likely for a user to be able to guess or infer a director number.
The director number is never made public and a user cannot do a search to find a director number. In order to use a previously assigned director number for a subsequent transaction, the user must know the director number and name as it already appears in VIRRGIN. Even then, the user is not given any confirmation that the match is complete unless the user is making changes to the details for that particular director.
  • Filing requirements.
The requirements outlined in section 118A (1) must be filed with the Registrar. Any change to the requirements must be filed within 30 days of the change occurring. This rules applies in respect of every change occurring, which means that every change in the requirements which occur on different dates must be independently computed in terms of when the change occurred and when the 30 day period begins to run.
The 30 day period begins to run from the date of the change occurring, not from the date the registered agent receives information regarding the change or upon the updating of that information by the registered agent. It is important therefore that the companies and their agents are in sync on the legal requirements with regards to the change of director information.
  • Struck off companies
To be considered as a struck off companies as per section 118B (10)(c), the companies must be struck off prior to the 1st April 2016.
With effect from the 1st April 2016 a company that had, prior to that date, not been struck off the register would continue to qualify as an existing company and the obligation to provide director information applies even if the company is subsequently struck off.
Where a struck off company is restored to the register, the liability for filing the requisite director information arises from the date of the restoration ; if the company fails to effect the necessary filing within the prescribed period, the penalty applicable would be that outlined in paragraph 2A (1) of Part II of Schedule 1. This relates to companies that were struck off to the commencement date of 1st April 2016.
  • Information on register of directors
Section 118B (10)(a) relates only to the information of current directors as of the date of filing.
  • Certificate of good standing
Section 235 of the BVIBCA specified the criteria for issuing a good standing. A mere failure to fail a register of directors will not disentitle a company from requesting and obtaining a certificate of good standing.
  • Miscellaneous
  • The penalties outlined in paragraph 2A (1)(c) of Part II of Schedule 1 are non-cumulative.
  • After a Registered Agent files a register of Directors on VIRRGIN, this agent will be able to access it.
  • VIRRGIN has updated and corrected some errors with nationalities and countries. However, if you find anything, you should contact VIRRGIN support for review.
To find out how this affects you, please contact us here: http://osiristrust.com/offices/index.html