§ 36 — Amendment of ACRA Act

36. In the ACRA Act —(a)

in section 26, delete the definitions of “FATF”, “FATF recommendation”, “filing agent” and “qualified individual”;

(b)

in section 26, replace the definitions of “registered filing agent” and “registered qualified individual” with —“ “registered corporate service provider” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024;”;

(c)

in section 27(1)(d), replace “; and” at the end with a full‑stop;

(d)

in section 27(1), delete paragraph (e);

(e)

in section 28(2), replace “registered filing agent” with “registered corporate service provider for providing the service mentioned in paragraph (f)(i) of the definition of “corporate service” in section 2(1) of the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024”;

(f)

in section 28, replace subsection (3) with —“(3) A person who carries on a business of acting as a secretary of one or more companies may carry out a transaction with the Registrar using the electronic transaction system for any such company in the person’s capacity as a secretary of the company, if and only if the person is a registered corporate service provider for providing the service mentioned in paragraph (f)(ii) of the definition of “corporate service” in section 2(1) of the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024.”;

(g)

in section 28(4), after “Subsection (2)”, insert “or (3)”;

(h)

delete sections 31 to 34;

(i)

in section 35(2), delete paragraph (a);

(j)

in section 35(2), replace paragraph (b) with —“(b)

prescribe the persons to whom, and the transactions to which, the requirement under section 28(2) or (3) does not apply;”;

(k)

in section 35(2), delete paragraphs (c) to (f);

(l)

in section 35(2)(h), delete “, other than a contravention of a term or condition mentioned in section 31(9) or 32(9),”;

(m)

in section 39, replace subsection (5) with —“(5) An officer or employee of the Authority may also, in relation to an investigation into —(a)

a breach of a condition of registration of a registered corporate service provider or registered qualified individual under the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024; or

(b)

a contravention of or a failure to comply with any provision of that Act, the contravention of or non‑compliance with which is not an offence under that Act,

exercise the powers under subsection (1) in the same manner as if the breach, contravention or non‑compliance were an offence under this Act.”; and

(n)

in the Second Schedule, after item 3, insert —“3A. Corporate Service Providers Act 2024.”.

“(3) A person who carries on a business of acting as a secretary of one or more companies may carry out a transaction with the Registrar using the electronic transaction system for any such company in the person’s capacity as a secretary of the company, if and only if the person is a registered corporate service provider for providing the service mentioned in paragraph (f)(ii) of the definition of “corporate service” in section 2(1) of the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024.”;

“(5) An officer or employee of the Authority may also, in relation to an investigation into —(a)

a breach of a condition of registration of a registered corporate service provider or registered qualified individual under the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024; or

(b)

a contravention of or a failure to comply with any provision of that Act, the contravention of or non‑compliance with which is not an offence under that Act,

exercise the powers under subsection (1) in the same manner as if the breach, contravention or non‑compliance were an offence under this Act.”; and