Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act (UK, 2022)

The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 received Royal Assent on 15 March 2022. Its three parts established a register of overseas entities, amended unexplained wealth orders and changed sanctions designation and civil enforcement. These are separate legal mechanisms with different commencement provisions. [1, Parts 1-3 and section 69]

Registration and land

Part 1 requires qualifying overseas entities to provide Companies House with information about registrable beneficial owners or managing officers. Registered entities have an updating duty. The land provisions distinguish England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including their treatment of existing ownership and registrable transactions. Registration is a disclosure requirement, not a finding that property is criminal or sanctioned. [1, sections 3-7, 12-16 and 33, Schedules 3-5; 2, sections 2-3]

The register opened on 1 August 2022. The commencement instrument brought the land ownership and transaction provisions into force on 5 September 2022, while the initial registration transition ended on 31 January 2023. Those dates should not be combined into a single commencement date for the whole Act. The later Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 amended the register framework, and the current text must be read with its amendment and commencement annotations. [1, Part 1 annotations; 2, sections 3.1 and 3.7; 3, regulations 3-4; 4]

Unexplained wealth orders

Part 2 took effect on 15 May 2022. Where a respondent is an entity, an application may specify a responsible officer and the order may require that officer to provide information. The amendments also added an alternative unlawful-conduct test and modified interim-freezing and costs provisions. Costs protection is qualified: in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, unreasonable, dishonest or improper conduct by the authority can defeat it. The commencement saving excludes costs or expenses incurred before 15 May 2022. [1, sections 45-53; 5, regulations 2-3]

An unexplained wealth order requires a statement and potentially documents concerning the property and its acquisition. It is an investigative step, not itself a confiscation judgment. The identity of the property-holder respondent and the responsible officer required to answer should therefore remain distinct. [6, section 362A(1)-(6); 1, section 45]

Sanctions changes

Sections 58-59 introduced urgent designation procedures. For designation by name, the minister may initially rely on a relevant measure under a specified partner's law and a public-interest finding without the ordinary reasonable-suspicion condition being met. The legislation provides an initial 56-day period and a possible further 56-day period, after which the ordinary condition must be satisfied for continuation. This changes the procedure for a preventive designation; it does not establish the truth of every allegation associated with the foreign measure. [1, sections 58-59]

Section 54 removed the knowledge or reasonable-cause-to-suspect requirement for imposing a civil financial-sanctions monetary penalty. The change applies to breaches on or after 15 June 2022, with earlier breaches expressly saved. OFSI must still establish a breach on the balance of probabilities. The civil amendment does not remove the mental elements of criminal offences, and knowledge can remain relevant when deciding the enforcement response. [1, section 54; 7, regulations 2-3; 8, sections 2.2 and 5.2-5.5]

Operational limits

Registration, a land-registration restriction, an unexplained wealth order and a sanctions penalty are different events. The first supplies ownership information; the second controls registration of specified dealings; the third requires information through a court process; the fourth follows an enforcement determination. None automatically proves the others. The register's correction and false-filing provisions, and OFSI's evidence and proportionality requirements, should prevent administrative activity being reported as established illicit wealth or a criminal conviction. [1, sections 27-32, 45 and 54; 2, section 3; 8, sections 5.2-5.5; 9, sections 5.4-5.6]

The Act supplies legal powers and duties. A claim that it improved information accuracy, recovered assets or deterred misconduct requires separate, dated implementation evidence. Counts of registrations or penalties do not by themselves establish those outcomes. No such quantified effectiveness finding is made here. [1, Parts 1-3; 8, enforcement framework; analytical limitation]

See also

Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act (UK, 2018) · Criminal Finances Act 2017 and unexplained wealth orders · Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) · Beneficial-ownership disclosure regimes · Oligarch-network mapping and seizure

Sources

1. United Kingdom, *Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022*, c 10, revised text, 15 March 2022, reviewed 26 October 2026. The revision notice records no known outstanding effects, subject to the publisher's editorial currency qualification.
2. HM Land Registry, *Practice Guide 78: Overseas Entities*, sections 2-3 and 3.7, accessed 26 October 2026. The guide concerns England and Wales.
3. United Kingdom, *Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2022*, SI 2022/876, made 27 July 2022, regulations 2-4.
4. Companies House, *The New Register of Overseas Entities Is Live*, 1 August 2022, including the territorial and transitional conditions.
5. United Kingdom, *Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2022*, SI 2022/519, made 9 May 2022, regulations 2-3.
6. United Kingdom, *Proceeds of Crime Act 2002*, section 362A, revised text and annotations, reviewed 26 October 2026. This section concerns England and Wales and Northern Ireland; the 2022 Act separately amends the Scottish provisions.
7. United Kingdom, *Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (Commencement No. 2 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2022*, SI 2022/638, made 9 June 2022, regulations 2-3.
8. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, *Financial Sanctions Enforcement and Monetary Penalties Guidance*, sections 2.2 and 5.2-5.5, accessed 26 October 2026.
9. Companies House, *Register of Overseas Entities: Approach to Enforcement*, sections 5.4-5.6, accessed 26 October 2026.