HURRICANE UPDATE FOR THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
21 September 2017
by Jamal S. Smith, LL.B.(Hons.), MCIArb.
Further to our notice issued on Monday, 4 September 2017 our office was closed from midday on Tuesday, 5 September 2017 as we expected Hurricane Irma to pass close to our islands by Wednesday, 6 September 2017. Consequently, Hurricane Irma passed directly over the British Overseas Territory of the Virgin Islands (the “British Virgin Islands”) as a Category 5 storm causing major damage to the critical infrastructure, including the total disruption of electricity and communication networks. On, Tuesday, 19 September 2017 Hurricane Maria passed immediately south of the British Virgin Islands producing tropical storm conditions well into Wednesday, 20 September 2017, exactly two (2) weeks after Hurricane Irma.
While everyone at THORNTON SMITH is grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support and patience, we are pleased that all our staff was safe and secure during the passage of both Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Our office was also spared any serious damage. However, until further notice the BVI office of THORNTON SMITH will only be open for business from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday commencing on Monday, 25 September 2017.
The BVI Financial Services Commission, including the Registry of Trade Marks and Patents, will be fully operational and will continue to process applications as usual. However, due to major damage to the High Court Registry and all the courts, except the Commercial Court, all courts are closed until further notice although the Commercial Court has been temporarily relocated to St. Lucia with electronic access and arrangements can be made for video link and telephone conferencing. Additionally, the Governor has declared a state of emergency and a curfew is in effect from 6 p.m. until 9 a.m. daily and most public offices, financial institutions and other critical service providers are only operating on a limited basis. Courier services are operating on a very limited basis with a primary focus on delivering relief supplies. Therefore, until further notice please do not forward documents by courier and since our postal service is also minimally operational, we will notify all our affected clients when we will resume dispatching documents.
Please continue to use your usual contact at THORNTON SMITH, however, should you require any urgent assistance please contact our colleague in Hong Kong, William Leung, at [email protected] or by telephone at +852 2810 6199 or by fax at +852 2810 1055.
We look forward to continuing to working with you.
Partner @ Sage BVI | British Virgin Islands Legal Practitioner
7 年Glad to know that you and your team are well Jamal. All the best!
Accountant, Researcher
7 年Glad to know that you and your staff remained safe and are now working towards getting the office up and running normally again. Best regards to you all Jamal.
Managing Partner & Intellectual Property Lawyer at MINI?O Abogados
7 年Jamal I am glad to hear everyone in your team is safe. Very sorry for the material damages, hope things get back to normal as soon as possible. Please count on us for anything we can help on. Stay safe.