Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014: Amendment: Law drafting instructions

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A decision made 11 December 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2015-0106
Decision Summary Title :	Law Drafting Instruction for the amendment to the Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014		Date of Decision Summary:	8 December 2015
Decision Summary Author:	Strategic Policy Manager		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	N/a		Date of Written Report:	8 December 2015
Written Report Author:	Strategic Policy Manager		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Formal instructions to the Law Draftsman to commence law drafting amendments to the Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014 (the “Aircraft Registration Law”) with regard to: Article 19 Restriction on registrations of aircraft and use of registered aircraft - amended to enable the Registrar to more easily remove a Qualified Person from the Jersey Aircraft Registry (JAR) when in breach of Article 19.
Decision(s): The Minister formally requests the Law Draftsman to draft the requisite amendments to the Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014.
Reason(s) for Decision: In early 2015, MONEYVAL, the monitoring body of the Council of Europe, undertook a review and produced a report which examined the Island’s governance structure that regulates the finance industry with regard to Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (“CFT”). In order to maintain Jersey’s commitment to relevant international standards, a steering group, the Jersey Financial Crime Steering Group (JFCSG), composed of: regulators, legal representatives and senior officers from the Chief Minister’s Department. The JFCSG examined the Jersey Aircraft Registry legislation package, with particular emphasis on the working of the Aircraft Registration Law. Of particular interest was whether “Qualified Persons” as set out under the Aircraft Jersey Law should be further refined by virtue of a policy direction to only accept registrations if they were applied for through the mechanism of a Jersey structure. One of the advantages of these criteria was that they would not only offer more certainty in terms of due diligence but that de-registration of an aircraft would be similarly a more straight-forward process. Something that cannot be easily performed for Qualified Persons outside of the Island, as the legislation stands at present. In summary, in order to maximise the potential of the JAR and ensure that Jersey continues to demonstrate its commitment to relevant international standards, it is necessary to amend the Aircraft Law in order that the restrictions laid down in the Articles conform to the most recent policy objectives affecting the JAR and ensure that once a Qualified Person has successfully applied, that Qualified Person may also be successfully removed where circumstances require.
Resource Implications: There are no resource implications in the law drafting of the requisite legislation.
Action required: The Law Draftsman to agree to commence drafting the requisite amendments to the Aircraft Registration Law The Minister to sign and date the Ministerial Decision and for it to be returned to the States Greffe.
Signature: Senator L J Farnham		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014: Amendment: Law drafting instructions

Aircraft Registration (Amendment) (Jersey) Law201- (“draft Amendment”)

Introduction

The Aircraft Registration (Jersey) Law 2014 (“Aircraft Registration Law”) came into force on 21st October 2015 and the first aircraft was registered at the beginning of the following month.

Background

In early 2015, MONEYVAL, the monitoring body of the Council of Europe, undertook a review and produced a report which examined the Island’s governance structure that regulates the finance industry with regard to Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (“CFT”). In order to maintain Jersey’s commitment to relevant international standards, a steering group, the Jersey Financial Crime Steering Group (JFCSG), composed of regulators, legal representatives and senior officers from the Chief Minister’s Department.

The JFCSG, while supportive of the JAR initiative, examined the Jersey Aircraft Registry (“JAR”) legislation package, with emphasis on the working of the Aircraft Registration Law. Of particular interest was whether “Qualified Persons” [1] as set out under the Aircraft Registration Law should be further refined by virtue of a policy decision to only accept registrations if they were applied for through the mechanism of a Jersey structure. One of the advantages of these criteria was that they would not only offer more certainty in terms of due diligence, but that de-registration of an aircraft would be similarly a more straight-forward process. Something that cannot be easily performed for Qualified Persons outside of the Island, as the legislation stands at present.

Summary

In summary, in order to maximise the potential of the JAR and ensure that Jersey continues to demonstrate its commitment to relevant international standards, it is necessary to amend the Aircraft Registration Law in order that the restrictions laid down in the Articles conform to the most recent policy objectives affecting the JAR and ensure that once a Qualified Person has successfully applied, that same Qualified Person may also be successfully removed where circumstances require.

[1] Within the Aircraft Registration Law, a “qualified person” means – (a) a body incorporated or undertaking established in; or (b) a citizen or resident of, a country specified in Schedule 1, namely; European Economic Area Countries, Commonwealth Countries or Switzerland.