2015 Throne Speech: A Brief Summary of the Parliamentary Agenda
About Agathe Holowatinc
Agathe manages the firm’s library and information centre, provides legal research and reference services and delivers training in the use of print and online resources to the firm’s attorneys and pupils. She also coordinates the firm’s marketing and public relations programme, leads the design and development of the firm website, Bermuda Law Blog and MJM Quarterly Newsletter, and oversees IT operations.
Agathe Holowatinc’s full profile on mjm.bm.
The Bermuda Government re-affirmed its commitment to making economic recovery a national priority in the 2015 Throne Speech, its legislative blueprint for the coming parliamentary year.
“Government continues to pursue a two-track strategy to grow the economy and impose discipline on the public purse”, said the Governor Sir George Fergusson who by tradition reads the speech at the opening of parliament ceremony. “Particular energies have been focused on rebuilding Bermuda’s tourism industry and improving the Island’s attractiveness to international business.”
The need to win back investor confidence was cited, whether by changing regulations, passing legislation, cutting red tape, identifying market needs, meeting people and generally promoting the Island as a welcome place to do business.
Some of the legislative reforms that Government has in mind were detailed in the Speech:
- New amendments to partnership laws to provide greater flexibility and certainty with respect to partner activities, rights and remedies as well as structural conversions, re-domiciliation and the impact of specified events on the continuity of partnerships;
- A Bill to modernise Bermuda’s current legal position on third party rights, giving the jurisdiction maximum flexibility to meet the needs of the market and to match similar rights already in placed in other jurisdictions;
- An amendment to the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act so as to give Bermuda courts the power to remove legal restrictions on the time period for which property can be held in trust; and
- A Tourism Investment Incentive Act to encourage investment in hotel development and re-development as well as to provide incentives for “tourism-related products” and which will replace the existing Hotel Concessions Act.
There was also mention of the need to work with the private sector to develop a cybersecurity framework for Bermuda along with the introduction of a Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). For more information on the introduction of the Draft Model Personal Information Protection Act see this post.
The Speech also highlighted the need to maintain and enhance Bermuda’s position as “a top-tier financial centre”. Legislation was promised to ensure Bermuda meets international financial stability standards. These new standards stem “from regulatory gaps [that were] identified in other countries during the global financial crisis when financial institutions experienced difficulties because of systemic financial stress.”
No immediate change to Bermuda’s tax structure was mentioned, although Government did confirm that a delegation from the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), an IMF regional body, completed a comprehensive review of Bermuda’s tax system and its administration. The report is currently being finalised and the Ministry of Finance is proposing to consult “key stakeholders before decisions are made”, the Throne Speech disclosed.