On 18 March 2025, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Commencement No.4) Regulations 2025 (Fourth Commencement Regulations) brought into full force, amongst others, sections 65 (procedure etc for verifying identity), 66 (authorisation of corporate service providers) and 68 (allocation of unique identifiers) of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA). The commencement of these provisions also brings into effect the Registrar (Identity Verification and Authorised Corporate Service Providers) Regulations 2025 and the Unique Identifiers (Application of Company Law) Regulations 2025. 

Whilst a little later than originally anticipated by Companies House, this cluster of secondary legislation makes 18 March 2025 an important date for the following reasons:

• Companies House has launched its platform enabling businesses to register as ACSPs although you only need to register as an ACSP at this stage if you plan to verify people’s identities
• Companies House has updated its transition plan to indicate that individuals should be able to voluntarily verify their identity from 8 April 2025
• In addition to the rules around identity verification and ACSPs, the Fourth Commencement Regulations bring into force s.70 ECCTA and the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Company Law) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 which empower Companies House to now strike off companies and LLPs registered on a false basis

Looking forwards, the Fourth Commencement Regulations confirm that the provisions of ECCTA relating to the failure to prevent fraud offence will come into full force on 1 September 2025. For more information on the failure to prevent fraud offence, please see our previous guidance note here.