With effect from the 1st September 2002 the Registry of Companies shall be implementing a new requirement in connection with the registration of companies and certain statutory forms. This requirement seeks to meet the demands of current international standards, which emphasise the importance of establishing the identity and of retaining proper identification records of owners and officers of companies. As from the 1st September 2002, documents submitted for registration (both in respect of new companies and statutory forms) indicating the involvement in a Maltese commercial partnership of individuals who do not hold a Maltese identity card or entities that are not constituted under Maltese law, should be accompanied by the following: In the case of individuals: A copy of the passport or other official identification document; In the case of companies / other entities: A copy of a certificate confirming the existence of the entity (e.g. certificate of registration, certificate of good standing, etc.). In the case of individuals holding a Maltese identity card or entities constituted under Maltese law, verification of identification / existence will continue to be carried out by reference to local databases and sources of information, including the electoral register and Registry database itself. The submission of bank references in respect of non-resident shareholders shall no longer be required on a compulsory basis, although such practice is encouraged. The Registrar of Companies however reserves the right, in particular cases or classes of cases, to require the submission of any additional information / documentation as he may deem necessary, including the submission of satisfactory references from banks or other referees of standing in respect of any individual or entity (whether resident or otherwise) involved in a Maltese commercial partnership. The co-operation of all those involved in company registration and company secretarial practice is solicited in order to implement this new procedure in a smooth manner.

1. Now that a large number of financial statements for the year ending 31 December 1999 are expected to be submitted for registration in the near future, please remind your members to insert the relative company’s registration number on the covering page of the accounts. 2. With regards to the Annual Return form, please use the form issued by the Registry. Kindly refrain from using the old ‘green’ double-sided form since its format is not suitable for scanning and would entail photocopying of all the pages of the form prior to scanning, causing unnecessary delays in the registration process.

The euro will replace the following currencies as from 1st January 2002. French Franc, Deutsche Mark, Italian Lira, Spanish Peseta, Dutch Guilder, Portuguese Escudo, Belgian Franc, Austrian Schilling, Irish Punt, Luxembourg Franc, Finnish Markka, Greek Drachma. The Registrar of Companies solicits company directors and practitioners to make the necessary arrangements so that companies whose capital is denominated in one of the above-mentioned currencies adopt an appropriate shareholders’ resolution altering the capital clause in the memorandum of association and converting the capital into euro. This resolution, together with a revised and updated copy of the memorandum and articles of association as amended, should be submitted to the Registrar for registration prior to the 1st January 2002. For companies registered after the 1st January, 1999 (being the date on which the exchange rates between the above currencies and the euro were fixed), the conversion of the currency should not present any difficulties with regard to the application of the Eighth Schedule of the Companies Act. The rate to be used should be the official fixed conversion rate. For companies registered prior to 1st January 1999 with a share capital in one of the above currencies and wishing to convert their share capital into euro prior to 1st January 2002, the conversion rules laid down in the aforesaid schedule apply. Such companies may, however, consider amending their share capital clause with effect from 1st January 2002. In this case it is the view of the Registrar that the fixed conversion rate may be applied. The above does not apply in the following two cases.

Following the amendments to the Exchange Control Act, Cap. 233 of the Laws of Malta, which has been re-named ‘External Transactions Act’, the exemption from exchange control regulations which was previously given to international trading companies upon application to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) as agent of the Central Bank of Malta, is now automatically given by law to international trading/holding companies which are wholly nonresident owned. These changes came into effect on 1st January 2004 by means of Legal Notice 427 of 2003. This measure in practice means that a company which restricts its activities to “activities with persons outside Malta who are not resident in Malta”, has the objects clause in its Memorandum of Association so restricted and whose shares are wholly non-resident owned, is exempt by law from exchange control restrictions and no exemption letter need be issued by MFSA.