HOUSE OF LORDS REVIEWS UK-OTs RELATIONSHIP

The British Parliament’s House of Lords(HOL) Constitution Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the 2023 UK Overseas Territories Joint Declaration, focusing on the effectiveness of intergovernmental engagement mechanisms.

The ongoing inquiry reviews progress on commitments regarding security, sustainability, and the partnership between the UK and its 14 Overseas Territories. According to a House of Lords statement, the inquiry seeks to ensure the partnership between the UK and its territories grows stronger through improved cooperation and parliamentary scrutiny.

Key aspects include assessing the impact of the 2023 Joint Declaration, which aims for closer collaboration on law enforcement, economic resilience, and climate change.

It’s also evaluating how the UK Government and Overseas Territories interact, including the role of the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) and potential improvements in communication.

The HOL review committee has already taken evidence from current and former officials, including the incumbent Minister for Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty.

During an oral hearing on February 11th, present via video link from their respective territories were the Premiers of the British Virgin Islands, Dr Natalio Wheatley, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, Washington Missick. Also participating via link from Bermuda was the Bermuda Attorney General, with the heads of the UK-based OT missions of Anguilla and Montserrat appearing in person.

The Cayman Islands did not directly participate in that session but is said to have made written submissions. (A delegation of UK parliamentarians from the House of Commons and House of Lords visited the jurisdiction last week. Read the article in last Friday’s paper).

In reviewing the 2023 Joint Declaration during the House of Lords hearing, much attention was placed on the future of the relationship between the jurisdictions and the UK as the administrative. The constitutional relationship was examined with discussions looking at the potential for greater representation of territories in the UK Parliament, and the option of territories to pursue independence.

Another prominent feature of the inquiry is hotly-debated and time-sensitive Public Access to Registers of Beneficial  Ownership(PARBO) law. The transparency legislation, which holds implications especially for OTs heavily invested in the financial services industry as a main economic pillar, is set to be imposed on all OTs by the UK by mid-year unless each territory voluntarily enacts the full legislation. There has been resistance to the measure by OTs concerned about what they regard as the intrusive nature of the legislation over privacy issues of persons and entities registered in their respective financial service sectors, with the resulting threat to their economies.

The UK insists that the legislation is a vital tool in the global fight against money laundering, financing terrorism and other illicit activities.

Addressing the PARBO issue, the UK Minister for the Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, reported during a January sitting of the inquiry advising that while initially, legitimate interest access registers are expected to be in place across all jurisdiction by the middle of this year, the goal is for eventual full public access.

“It is important to recognise where progress has been made. Gibraltar already has a fully publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership. St Helena introduced one. Cayman has made some substantial progress,” he reported.

Asked about the pace of the PARBO process which has been discussed since 2022, Min. Dougthy also stated: “Have they moved as fast as I would have liked? No. We have been robust in challenging them and had discussions with a number of specific territories about what we expect to see. We offered support to enable those things to be put in place. Our ultimate expectation remains fully accessible registers of beneficial ownership. As an interim step, it is most important to have the legitimate interest access registers.”

The UK Overseas Territories Minister also updated that several OTs have already passed the legislation or it’s still being drafted. “But we also expect them to be of a high accessibility standard so that practical impediments will not be put in place that make the legislation difficult to apply in practice,” he added.

Michael L. Jarvis London UK