Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

Overview of the Act

Reproduced verbatim from the Explanatory Notes published with the Act on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Explanatory Notes are prepared by the responsible government department and are not part of the Act.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is effectively the second part of a legislative package to prevent the abuse of United Kingdom (UK) corporate structures and tackle economic crime. It follows on from the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which received Royal Assent on 15 March 2022.

The Act has three key objectives: Prevent organised criminals, fraudsters, kleptocrats and terrorists from using companies and other corporate entities to abuse the UK’s open economy. This Act reforms the powers of the Registrar of Companies and the legal framework for limited partnerships in order to safeguard businesses, consumers and the UK’s national security. Strengthen the UK’s broader response to economic crime, in particular by giving law enforcement new powers to seize cryptoassets and enabling businesses in the financial sector to share information more effectively to prevent and detect economic crime. Support enterprise by enabling Companies House to deliver a better service for over four million UK companies, and improving the reliability of its data to inform business transactions and lending decisions across the economy.