The objects and reasons of this Bill are to effect amendments to the Companies Act (Cap. 386), mainly to transpose Directive (EU) 2021/2101 and furthermore, to introduce a new duty of the Registrar to conduct on-site inspections in order to verify information held by companies on their members and beneficial owners and other matters related thereto; to upgrade and enhance the commercial partnerships’ regulatory framework aimed to provide legal certainty, including those matters that seek to clarify certain provisions related to the reduction of companies’ share capital and share cancellations following a repurchase of shares or mergers, to improve the quality of reporting standards to the Registrar; and to grant powers to the Minister to make regulations for the purposes of regulating cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions by, or to, or with bodies corporate which are not Maltese.