The UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: Requirement to provide a Registered Email Address.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (2023) introduces a significant change for companies in the UK, introducing the requirement for a Registered Email Address (REA) and extending the powers of the Companies House in general. This article gives a brief overview of this legislative amendment and its implications for new and existing UK-registered companies.

What’s the Registered Email Address (REA)?
Clause 29 of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act mandates companies to have a Registered Email Address. This will be used mainly as the main channel of communication between the Companies House and the companies, for instance, for sending reminders or queries to the information used in public records. This decision was made to increase and enhance the quality, speed, and convenience of interaction between Registry and companies.
It is ensured that email addresses are to be kept with due privacy and will not be publicly displayed the same as the residential address of directors and PSCs. Therefore, no unauthorized users will be able to access this information.

Whom this rule applies to?
Briefly speaking, this requirement shall be applied to all UK companies regardless of the date of registration. LLPs, limited partnerships, companies limited by shares – these all have to ensure the REA is duly registered with the Companies House.
While the REA requirement may pose challenges for companies whose directors do not use email, it emphasizes the need for a single email address for the company. Accountants and agents overseeing company secretarial work can also provide their email addresses. Non-compliance without a «reasonable excuse» may result in fines.

New and existing companies under the new regime.
Starting from March 4, 2024, all application forms to incorporate a new company or LLP must include the intended Registered Email Address. Companies House emphasizes that this requirement will be an obligatory part of the application process. Failure to provide the REA will lead to rejection by Companies House.
As for the existing companies, they will be subjected to provide an REA starting from March 5, 2024, via submission of the confirmation statement. In simple words, if submitting the confirmation statement after the new requirements come into force, it shall contain the registered email address. Failure to provide the same will lead to rejection of the submission by Companies House.

How to define an appropriate email address for registration? How to change it in case of necessity?
Although having no verification, it will be necessary to provide a valid email to receive incoming communication (no bounce back for emails). We believe that Companies House will increase usage of this channel of communication with the companies in the future. Therefore, our team would recommend to ensure its accessibility.

As per legislation, an email is considered appropriate when “in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company”. In terms of practical compliance with the legislation:

• There could be a single email address used (existing or newly created specifically for these purposes) with access of several users within the company;
• Not necessarily to have the REA linked with a particular director/officer within the structure;
• REA to be registered on the company’s or custom domain;
• There could be used a single REA for managing issues related to the group of companies.

In those cases, when there is a need to make some changes in the email address, it is anticipated that Companies House will require companies to supply it with a special form dedicated exactly to REA’s changes. While it is a temporary transitional solution to provide a registered email address either with an application form or annual confirmation statement, we believe this mechanism will be constantly improving.

To summarize the above, it is worth saying that the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act makes a shift to modern solutions for the reporting and communication between authorities (i.e. Companies House) and other companies. As the deadline approaches, we would recommend getting prepared and selecting the email address for the official registration. We assume this will be a constant requirement for all companies in the future in line with others like having a registered address.