New regulations set to come into force in summer 2018 will allow company Directors and individuals to remove details of their residential address filed on the public register at Companies House.
Currently under the Companies Act 2006, company Directors and Secretaries are able to provide a service address for correspondence to ensure that their residential address is not shown on the public register. Whilst the 2006 Act allowed a service address to be provided it did not provide for the removal of any existing residential addresses that had previously been filed at Companies House.
In 2009, regulations were introduced to allow such information to be removed from Companies House when, for example, filing an annual return. However these regulations were only applicable to information filed on or after 1st January 2003 and certain conditions had to be met by individuals seeking to remove their private information. For example, the individual would need to be an employee of a “relevant organisation” or consider there to be a serious risk of violence to them as a result of the activities carried on by that particular company.
Increasing numbers of complaints have been made by individuals who are concerned that details such as their residential address will open them up to identity fraud and theft particularly when this information cannot be removed from the public register.
The new regulations propose to address these issues so that individuals may request the removal of their residential address from Companies House without having to satisfy any conditions. The new regulations will also apply to information supplied prior to the 1st January 2003.
It is clear that the introduction of these regulations is an attempt to protect people’s personal data and information in light of the General Data Protection Regulation that came in to force on 25th May 2018.
If you require further information on anything covered in this article please contact info@ramsdens.co.uk or call us on 01484 821 500 to speak toa member of our Company and Commercial team.