Offences and penalties for failures to disclose and provide information

Failure to comply with the Financial Service (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (Jersey) Law 2020 can lead to penalties including fines of up to £10,000 and seven years imprisonment.

The registrar may strike the entity's name off the register or cancel the registration of the entity, for failure to comply with any of the following:

• to appoint a nominated person
• to notify us of any change, error or inaccuracy in the beneficial owner or significant person information within 21 days
• to provide an annual confirmation statement
• to comply with a notice from a local competent authority.

Failure to appoint a nominated person

Every entity must appoint a nominated person upon application to register or incorporate. The entity commits an offence if it fails to do so without reasonable excuse.

An entity commits an offence if it fails, without reasonable excuse, to appoint a new nominated person within 21 days of the revocation or resignation of a nominated person if there is no other nominated person.

The penalty for this is a fine not exceeding £10,000.

Failure to notify us of any change, error or inaccuracy in the beneficial owner or significant person information within 21 days

An entity commits an offence if it does not notify us within 21 days of becoming aware of any change, error or inaccuracy in the beneficial owner / controller or significant person information.

The penalty for this is a fine and four years’ imprisonment.

The 21-day period is from when the entity becomes aware of any change, error or inaccuracy.

For entities administered by a regulated service provider, the new information must be given to you in time to notify us. The nominated person should act promptly to amend the associated parties information as soon as they are informed of any change, error or inaccuracy.

It is the entity that is guilty of the offence, not the nominated person.

Failure to provide an annual confirmation statement

Every entity must provide an annual confirmation statement within the relevant period (1 January – end of February) in each year.

An offence is committed by the entity if it fails to do so without reasonable excuse.

The penalty for this is a fine not exceeding £10,000.

Failure to comply with a notice from a local competent authority

A local competent authority may give notice in writing to a ‘defined person’ (which can be an entity, a nominated person or a significant person). The notice may require the defined person to provide information or documents within a specified time period, or to attend at a specified time and place to answer questions, required for the purpose of carrying out the authority’s functions under any law.

The defined person commits an offence if it fails to do this.

The penalty for this offence is a fine and four years’ imprisonment.

A local competent authority means any of the following: the Jersey Financial Services Commission; the Joint Financial Crimes Unit of the States of Jersey Police; the Attorney General; the Minister for External Relations or any other person, organisation or office holder prescribed by Regulations.

Unauthorised disclosure of information

A person who discloses any information obtained in connection with the administration or execution of a function under the law commits an offence.

The penalty for this is a fine and five years’ imprisonment.

It is not an offence if the information is disclosed:

• with the consent of the person from whom the information was obtained or to whom it relates;
• in connection with a function under the law
• for the purposes of any legal proceedings
• to a law enforcement agency for the investigation or prosecution of an offence
• to a regulatory officer for the purpose of assisting the officer in the exercise of his/her functions
• to a local competent authority
• with other lawful excuse.

Providing false or misleading information

A person commits an offence if they knowingly or recklessly provide information that is false or misleading to us, to a nominated person, or to any other person entitled to information under the law. The information must be false or misleading in a material particular.

The penalty is a fine and seven years’ imprisonment.

Removal, destruction, concealment or alteration of information (or causing or permitting any of these)

A person commits an offence if they do, cause or permit any of the following with intent to avoid detection by the JFSC or the Registrar of an offence under this law:

• removes information out of the jurisdiction
• destroys information
• conceals information
• fraudulently alters information.

Failure to provide required information

It is an offence if a person does not provide us with any information in their possession which they know, or have reasonable cause to believe, is required to be provided to us.

The penalty for these offences is a fine and seven years’ imprisonment.

We may refuse to register information provided to us if we believe that it is false or misleading.

Where an entity has not met the requirements to:

• appoint a nominated person
• notify us of any change, error or inaccuracy in the beneficial owner/controller or significant person information or
• provide an annual confirmation statement.

We may send a notice to inform you that at the end of the period of three months, the name of the entity will be struck off the register or the registration of the entity will be cancelled unless the entity complies with the requirements.

An entity that does not comply within three months will be struck off the register or the registration will be cancelled.

Daily default fine

An entity which has been convicted of any of the following:

• failure to provide an annual confirmation statement
• failure to appoint a nominated person
• failure to comply with a notice from a local competent authority.

and is subsequently convicted again of the same offence, is liable to a daily default fine and for each subsequent day on which the offence is continued.

The fine is £1,000 for each subsequent day on which the offence is continued.

Criminal liability

A significant person of an entity can be guilty of an offence listed above if it is proved that the offence was committed with his or her consent or connivance.

Where an offence is committed by an entity which is an incorporated limited partnership or a separate limited partnership, each general partner commits an offence.