ACRA defers implementation date for central non-public register of registrable controllers to July 2020 in light of Covid-19 situation
Deferral of implementation date to July 2020
On 5 May 2020, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”) issued an update in relation to its earlier notification titled “Advance Notification to RFAs on New Requirements for Register of Controllers” to announce that it is deferring the implementation date for the central non-public register of registrable controllers (“RORC”) to July 2020.
This is in light of the Covid-19 situation where registered filing agents (“RFAs”) may face operational and resource constraints, and may also have potential difficulties in obtaining consent from their clients to lodge the RORC on their behalf by May 2020.
RFAs who have been authorised by their clients to maintain the RORC should ensure that the RORC information of their clients is kept up to date, and can proceed to lodge the RORC information with ACRA via the transaction “Update Register of Registrable Controllers” in BizFile+ when the transaction is made available from July 2020 onwards. ACRA will provide RFAs with a further notification when the transaction is available.
Background
ACRA had previously announced on 23 March 2020 that, as part of ongoing efforts to uphold Singapore’s reputation as a trusted financial hub, and in line with international practices, it would be implementing a new requirement for all companies, foreign companies and limited liability partnerships (“LLPs”), unless exempted, to lodge information on their RORC with ACRA via BizFile+ from May 2020. This is in addition to the existing requirements for these entities to maintain an RORC at the registered office address.
Public agencies in Singapore such as law enforcement agencies will have access to the RORC information lodged with ACRA. Members of the public will not be able to access the RORC information or purchase any extracts of these lodgements.
Companies, foreign companies and LLPs are required to continue to maintain an RORC at the registered office address, and update any changes to the RORC information before updating the same information with ACRA within two business days. Alternatively, an RFA may be engaged to lodge the RORC information with ACRA on behalf of the entity.
For details on the RORC information to be lodged with ACRA, please see our previous article titled “ACRA to implement new requirement to lodge information on register of registrable controllers via BizFile+ from May 2020”.
Reference materials
The announcement is available on the ACRA website http://www.acra.gov.sg/ by clicking here.
Further information
Allen & Gledhill has a Covid-19 Resource Centre on our website www.allenandgledhill.com that contains knowhow and materials on legal and regulatory aspects of the Covid-19 crisis.
In addition, we have a cross-disciplinary Covid-19 Legal Task Force consisting of Partners across various practice areas to provide rapid assistance. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at covid19taskforce@allenandgledhill.com.
