BVI Handbook on International Co-operation and Information Exchange (Revised February 2025)

Summary

This is an internal-facing guidance handbook, first issued in 2007 and now reissued in February 2025, that explains the British Virgin Islands' overall framework for international cooperation and information exchange. It is aimed primarily at regulators, judicial officers and law enforcement officials (both domestic and foreign) who need to understand how the BVI provides and receives mutual legal assistance, regulatory cooperation and tax information exchange.

The Handbook surveys the key international treaties and UN Security Council Resolutions the BVI implements (drug trafficking, terrorist financing, organised crime, corruption, sanctions regimes), then sets out the BVI's domestic legislative regime for providing legal assistance in criminal, civil/commercial, regulatory and tax matters, including the FSC's powers to request documents, examine persons under oath, and cooperate with foreign regulators.

Cooperation channels and procedure

• Central authorities: Identifies the correct BVI authority for each type of request: the Governor's Office (diplomatic law enforcement requests), the Attorney General's Chambers (non-diplomatic law enforcement requests), the International Tax Authority (tax matters), the BVI Financial Services Commission (foreign regulatory authority requests), the Financial Investigation Agency, and the High Court Registry (judicial assistance).
• FSC's duty to cooperate: Describes the FSC's scope of assistance to foreign regulators, what constitutes a financial crime for these purposes, its power to compel documents/information and examine persons, and the conditions, limitations and protections (including restrictions on disclosure of protected information) that apply before assistance is given.
• Mutual legal assistance in tax matters: Outlines the powers of the Central Authority for tax cooperation, the conditions precedent to providing assistance, grounds for declining a request, and disclosure protections and restrictions.
• Request formalities: Sets out general procedural requirements for transmitting and executing requests for legal assistance, including that a request must be properly dated, signed, and emanate from a relevant authority, with the requesting authority responsible for ensuring all specific requirements are met before submission.

The document is explanatory guidance rather than a standalone source of new legal duties; the substantive obligations it describes derive from the underlying BVI legislation (e.g. mutual legal assistance, financial services, and tax information exchange laws) which it summarises for practitioners.

Key obligations

• A request for legal assistance to a BVI central authority must be properly dated, signed, and must emanate from a relevant authority of the requesting country or territory
• The requesting authority must satisfy itself that all requirements specific to the type of request have been met before submitting the request
• Where a request lacks required information, no action is taken by the BVI authority until the missing information is supplied
• Central authorities and requesting/requested authorities in dispute are encouraged to engage in dialogue to resolve disagreements within the terms of the relevant cooperation agreement

Applies to

Regulators and judicial and law enforcement officials, Foreign regulatory authorities, BVI Financial Services Commission, International Tax Authority, Financial Investigation Agency, BVI High Court Registry