CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniel Lee, Sophia Scott, Kimberly Robinson and James Turner, Maples Group
9. Looking Forward 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms
The DPA could apply to an overseas business market - ing goods or services to Cayman Islands residents, and collecting their personal data, but extraterrito - rial effect requires an indication that the business is actively targeting Cayman Islands residents. Data controllers must comply with the data protection prin - ciples, which are broadly similar to Article 5 of the GDPR and provide, for example, that personal data must be processed fairly, only for specified lawful pur - poses, and must be adequate, relevant and not exces - sive. Other notable requirements include responding to access/correction requests and notifying personal data breaches. The DPA does not apply directly to data processors, but those who wish to appoint data processors are required to ensure that data processors give certain contractual assurances with respect to the personal data that they process. 8.3 Role and Authority of the Data Protection Agency The relevant regulator is the Ombudsman. Breach of the DPA can lead to remedial action, penalties and criminal sanctions. The Ombudsman may order rec - tification, blocking, erasure, destruction or updating of inaccurate data. Monetary penalties are capped at KYD250,000.
The Cayman Islands Ministry for Financial Services has previously issued consultation papers on pro - posed amendments to the ELP Act. The proposed amendments intended to introduce additional struc - tural flexibility and efficiencies for ELPs and include: • provisions to facilitate statutory mergers between one or more ELPs, between one or more ELPs and/or one or more exempted companies or LLCs or between one or more ELPs and one or more foreign entities provided such foreign entities have separate legal personality, consistent with the existing Cayman Islands statutory merger regimes applying to exempted companies and LLCs; and • a provision to facilitate the conversion of an exempted company or an LLC to an ELP. The consultation ended on 20 February 2024, and updates are expected in due course. The Companies (Amendment) Act, 2024, came into force on 1 January 2026, introducing a number of important enhancements to the Companies Act, including streamlined capital reduction procedures (allowing solvent companies to reduce share capital by special resolution supported by a solvency state - ment without court approval), expanded continua - tion provisions for overseas bodies corporate, and new procedures for conversion and re-registration between entity types. The Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill, 2026, pub - lished on 31 March 2026, proposes to establish the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee on a statutory footing, introduce statutory definitions for self-laun - dering and standalone money laundering offences, and require competent authorities to submit annual performance reports.
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