Foreign Companies: Ownership
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2026 to Question 9905 on Foreign Companies: Ownership, how many of those penalties were (a) financial sanctions, (b) disqualification and (c) criminal sanctions.
Answered by Blair McDougall
Of the 445 penalties issued to overseas entities for failure to register, as of 31 March 2026, all were financial sanctions in the form of civil penalties.
Failure to register is a criminal offence under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. The Registrar has the power to issue financial penalties as a sanction, as they have done in all cases.
The Register of Overseas Entities framework does not provide for disqualification, as overseas entities are established and governed under the laws of their home jurisdictions, where responsibility for corporate governance and any disqualification measures rests.
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