NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 18, 2022) – Two important Bills relating to the Financial Services Industry on Nevis were passed during the October 18, 2022 sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly- the Nevis Business Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and the Nevis Limited Liability Company (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Both pieces of legislation were introduced by Premier Hon. Mark Brantley, Minister of Finance in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA).

The Nevis Business Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 amends the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, 2017.

During the debate the Premier outlined the rationale for the amendments, which he said were proposed by the Financial Services Regulation Supervision Department and the service providers. The amendments were done primarily to Section 119 of the existing Ordinance with a view to clarifying certain aspects of the legislation pertaining to the removal of corporations from the register of corporations due to failure to pay annual registration fees or maintain a registered agent.

Under the amended legislation, corporations can be restored to the register within three years of the date of removal upon filing an Application for Restoration with the Registrar of Corporations, together with the prescribed fee for restoration and all outstanding fees and penalties accrued as at the date of the application.

The Minister of Finance also explained the aim of the amendments to the Nevis Limited Liability Company.

“It is to introduce some new sections, it is to create greater clarity as to the merger and consolidation of companies domestically and the merger and consolidation with foreign companies; the sale, lease, exchange or other disposition of assets, and of course the rights of members who dissent to record and register their dissent and to ensure that they get payment.

“It also, in Section 73, seeks to mirror the sections that we have just debated in the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance to ensure that the Registrar has to restore a company if that company applies within the requisite period, and that company had been struck for the reasons that we had earlier indicated- for non-payment or for failure to maintain a registered agent.”

Both Bills were supported by members on the government benches and were passed unanimously in the Assembly.