The legislation for Scottish Limited Partnerships have changed regarding the disclosure of information. Going forward, Scottish LPs will have to register all information about PSCs and Business Owners with the UK Companies House from July 24th 2017.

Persons with Significant Control (or PSCs) can be an individual or legal entity that holds:

• More than 25% of a company’s issued share capital.
• More than 25% of a company’s voting rights.
• The right to appoint or remove a majority of board of Directors.

The requirements were introduced throughout the UK almost a year ago in accordance with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Although, the PSC regulations didn’t apply to Limited Partnerships. However, Scottish Limited Partnerships were already under consideration a year ago, as unlike other LPs in the UK, Scottish LPs have a distinct legal personality.

The UK regulation on PSC information received criticism back in 2016 for an extreme application of the European Commission Money Laundering Fourth Directive, as the personal data of the Business Owners, their home addresses and dates of birth appeared to be publicly accessible for any third party on the Companies House website.

However as of this summer there are some changes to PSC and BO information submission. Whilst all Scottish LPs are to maintain PSC registers also and must submit their forms within 2 weeks after July 24th. Any new Limited Partnerships incorporated after July 24th will have to provide all PSC and BO information along with the documents of incorporation.

Officials have predicted that some form of protection regime will be available for Scottish LPs. However it may not be permitted for Business Owners of limited partnerships to apply to the Companies House for a restriction to avoid any personal information being disclosed on the public register. Only specified public authorities will have access to the registers upon request. It is intended that the access will also be approved automatically for banks and other financial institutions in order to verify the PSC data.

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