Trust Administration Bill

2023-02-14

The Master of the High Court (MOHC), a directorate under the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), herewith informs the public at large, the Private Sector and all relevant stakeholders, inclusive of but not limited to, Trusts and Company Service Providers (TCSP’s), Legal Practitioners, Trust Practitioners, Estate Practitioners, the Deeds Office, NAMRA, BIPA, Banking Institutions and Financial Institutions of the following: 

1. Namibia recently underwent a mutual evaluation by the ESAAMLG conducted on the 27 September 2021 to 08 October 2021 to test her compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations and the level of effectiveness of Namibia’s AML/CFT system. 

2. The outcome of the Mutual Evaluation is published on the FATF website at https://www.fatf-gafi.org/content/fatf-gafi/en/publications/Mutualevaluations/mer-namibia-2023.html. 

In the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) the supervision of trusts falls under discussion of Immediate Outcome 5-Legal Persons and Arrangements (See on pages 116 to 123 of the MER of Namibia – September 2022) and Recommendation 25- Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of legal arrangements (See on pages 172 and 173 of the MER of Namibia – September 2022).

3. The outcome of MER, accentuated the need for re-evaluation of the current  outdated Trust Monies Protection Act, (Act No: 34 of 1934) which is insufficient in catering for modern trusts, hence the need for the new law.

4. Comments on the proposed draft bill from stakeholders has been discussed and incorporated, which is available on our website at https://mohc.moj.na under the category Trust/Legislation. The Bill has heen submitted to CCL and will be considered by the committee on 22 March 2023.

5. Should you have any queries pertaining to this Public Notice, kindly contact Mrs. Olivia Mutjavikua at Olivia.Mutjavikua@moj.gov.na or via Tel: 061-2921503.

6. We wish to thank all stakeholders for the comments and input on the draft bill.