The Virtues of the Marshall Islands Jurisdiction for Corporate and Maritime Entities
When considering jurisdictions for incorporating or re-domiciling an entity, clients shall consider the following three (3) premises:
- Reliability of the Foreign Relevant Authorities and jurisdictions,
- Compliance status of the jurisdiction with International Regulators, and
- Availability of experienced and qualified Counsel.
An on-demand jurisdiction that fulfills the above premises is the Marshall Islands jurisdiction.
Reliability of the Foreign Relevant Authority.
Consisting of a picturesque group of over 1,200 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, The Republic of the Marshall Islands (“Marshall Islands” or “RMI”), gained their independency as a sovereign nation in the year of 1986. Soon thereafter, in 1990, enacted their Associations Law, with the objective of promoting and facilitating commercial and shipping activities, while competing in the worldwide business corporations market. This legislation is a framework inspired by the Delaware jurisdiction of the United States of America. Hence, permitting the incorporation of International Business Corporations, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships (“LP”), Limited Liability Companies (“LLC”), and the registration of Foreign Maritime Entities.
Pursuing an ease for corporate formation, the Marshall Islands offer the following alternatives for International Business Corporations:
- The client can act as Incorporator and provide its own Articles of Incorporation, or
- Majuro Nominees Ltd., an affiliated company of the Marshall Islands, can act as Incorporator, providing the Articles of Incorporation.
For Partnerships, LPs, and LLCs, the client shall prepare and send the required formation documents.
Regarding the standard share structure, it is composed of 500 registered / bearer shares of no par value or up to US$ 50,000.00 worth of par value shares of any legal tender.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands Registry is able to provide unparalleled, prompt, and efficient services thanks to the assistance of International Registries, Inc. (IRI), who provides the administrative and technical resources for the operation of the Corporate and Maritime Registries.
The above-mentioned virtues have distinguished the Marshall Islands as an international company hub par excellence for Corporate and Maritime industries for over 30 years.
Currently, the legal safeguard and effectiveness of their services has placed the Marshall Islands in the vanguard for commercial shipping registration. The RMI conforms the top three jurisdictions, just behind the Republics of Panama and Liberia, at 290 million deadweight tons in 2022, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developments´ Handbook of Statistics for Merchant Fleet.
Compliance status of the jurisdiction with International Regulators.
With ever-changing requirements and regulations imposed by International Fiscal Organizations on major international jurisdictions, the Marshall Islands was recognized as “largely compliant” by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, also obtaining the highest rankings achievable by the Financial Action Task Force since the year 2020.
Compliance with international regulations allow collaborations and transactions of Marshall Islands corporations in international markets without setbacks.
Availability of experienced and qualified Counsel.
Honorably appointed as a Marshall Islands Special Agent in December 2022, our Partner, Jaime E. Sánchez Reverte, joined a select list of worldwide attorneys who are granted this distinction. This privileged appointment provides an enhanced attention, information knowledge, and trust in our varied services offered in the RMI jurisdiction.
In a constantly evolving globalized market, keeping the lookout for new opportunities, as the discussed jurisdiction presents, places us a step ahead, and honoring the administration of our clienteles’ entities under Quijano & Associates in the Marshall Islands is an opportunity for satisfaction and fulfillment of our client´s corporate needs.
