Minister of Finance Paula Cox told the House of Assembly on Friday that amendments to legislation dealing with exempted and overseas partnerships would provide significant added value by enhancing the international business product.

The Exempted Partnerships Amendment Act 2005 and the Overseas Partnerships Amendment Act 2005 are designed for those with ?more sophisticated uses for a Bermuda partnership and will ensure consistency across companies and partnership legislation,? she said.

The amendments also recognise that partnership legislation is enabling and not regulatory in nature.

Minister Cox told the House that since the Exempted Partnership Act 1992 and the Overseas Partnerships Act 1995 were enacted approximately 602 partnerships have registered in Bermuda. They provide Government with approximately $1.26 million in revenue on an annual basis. The partnership register shows that two-thirds of the partnerships registered in Bermuda are investment holding companies.

The amendments come in light of Government?s efforts in the last four years to remove a number of antiquated procedural requirements from the company incorporation process and from other activities required under the Companies Act and other Acts.

The main purpose of the amendments ? which were instigated by a 2003 Bermuda International Business Association report ? is to bring the partnership legislation into line with amendments that have been made to the Companies Act 1981.

Certain changes already made to the Companies Act bring greater clarity to the types of activities an exempted company or persons associated with it can undertake in Bermuda. These include being required to advertise the proposed formation of an exempted partnership or any changes to its particulars and the restriction on the ability of an exempted or overseas partnership to hold land in Bermuda by way of lease or tenancy agreement.

The proposed new requirements for these Acts will mirror those already in existence for exempted companies in the Companies Act. These include setting out the responsibilities and entitlements of a resident representative and expanding the definition of what business can be undertaken in Bermuda by exempted as well as overseas partnerships.

While there are no international standards that relate specifically to the supervision of limited partnerships, Minister Cox said that a KPMG review of Financial Regulation in the Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda found that with some minor exceptions, the legislation and systems in place in Bermuda exceed good practice.

She said however that in light of continued discussion about whether Bermuda?s ?cautious approach to soliciting business is now to our detriment?, her Ministry is now reviewing legislation in other similarly structured financial centres such as Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands to gain a better understanding as to how Bermuda can position itself in the global market.

?We note that similar restrictions have not been imposed on companies and partnerships operating in those centres. In these cases, most companies and partnerships are able to engage in and carry on business or activity as long as the activity is related to that business,? she said.

The Minister has already announced that she is working to determine how to improve Bermuda?s registration process without undermining the Island?s current safeguards. She also recently commissioned Sloane and Company of New York to carry out a survey in Asia, South America, North America and Europe on Bermuda?s standing as an international financial centre and its potential for development in this area. She has also commissioned Walton Brown?s Research Innovations to undertake a survey on the implications for the insurance sector.