Michelle Watson Bunn
Updates
Corporate & Commercial
Guernsey companies – an overview
Guernsey | 26 October 2020The benefits of using a Guernsey company are extremely wide but generally include separate legal identity, limited liability for shareholders and ease of transfer of ownership. These features, coupled with a tax-neutral environment in Guernsey for most companies, enable Guernsey companies to be structured to meet a wide variety of business purposes – from commercial trading and joint ventures to investment holding vehicles.
Directors' duties and corporate governance
Guernsey | 17 August 2020Directors' duties are the duties owed by executive and non-executive directors to the companies to which they are appointed and are personal to each director. By comparison, corporate governance is the collection of principles and practices surrounding how a company is operated and is the collective responsibility of the board of directors as a whole rather than each individual personally.
Private Client & Offshore Services
Data protection registration from January 2021
Guernsey | 05 November 2020From January 2021, the Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA) will introduce a new registration and levy regime which has been approved by the States of Guernsey. This new regime requires all entities which process personal data, including local organisations, businesses and sole-traders established in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, to register with the ODPA. The new fees regime will allow the ODPA to move towards self-funding status, giving it full financial independence from the States of Guernsey.
Guernsey companies – an overview
Guernsey | 22 October 2020The benefits of using a Guernsey company are extremely wide but generally include separate legal identity, limited liability for shareholders and ease of transfer of ownership. These features, coupled with a tax-neutral environment in Guernsey for most companies, enable Guernsey companies to be structured to meet a wide variety of business purposes – from commercial trading and joint ventures to investment holding vehicles.
Directors' duties and corporate governance
Guernsey | 13 August 2020Directors' duties are the duties owed by executive and non-executive directors to the companies to which they are appointed and are personal to each director. By comparison, corporate governance is the collection of principles and practices surrounding how a company is operated and is the collective responsibility of the board of directors as a whole rather than each individual personally.
ODPA announces extension of exemption registration in Guernsey
Guernsey | 23 July 2020Every controller and processor of data must comply with the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2017. However, certain exemptions mean that there is currently no need for some data controllers or processors to register with the Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA). The ODPA has announced that any party which is currently exempt from the legal requirement to register will now continue to be exempt until January 2021.
National risk assessment: implications for businesses
Guernsey | 09 July 2020In January 2020 the Bailiwick published its national risk assessment (NRA), which identifies jurisdiction-wide and systemic risks to which its financial system is deemed particularly vulnerable. Individual specified businesses were initially given until the end of May 2020 to update their business risk assessments in light of the NRA, but some timeframes have been extended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article examines the contents of the NRA and the implications for specified businesses in the Bailiwick.
Tech, Data, Telecoms & Media
Data protection registration from January 2021
Guernsey | 06 November 2020From January 2021, the Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA) will introduce a new registration and levy regime which has been approved by the States of Guernsey. This new regime requires all entities which process personal data, including local organisations, businesses and sole-traders established in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, to register with the ODPA. The new fees regime will allow the ODPA to move towards self-funding status, giving it full financial independence from the States of Guernsey.
ODPA announces extension of exemption registration in Guernsey
Guernsey | 24 July 2020Every controller and processor of data must comply with the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2017. However, certain exemptions mean that there is currently no need for some data controllers or processors to register with the Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA). The ODPA has announced that any party which is currently exempt from the legal requirement to register will now continue to be exempt until January 2021.
White Collar Crime
National risk assessment: implications for businesses
Guernsey | 13 July 2020In January 2020 the Bailiwick published its national risk assessment (NRA), which identifies jurisdiction-wide and systemic risks to which its financial system is deemed particularly vulnerable. Individual specified businesses were initially given until the end of May 2020 to update their business risk assessments in light of the NRA, but some timeframes have been extended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article examines the contents of the NRA and the implications for specified businesses in the Bailiwick.
