The Bill follows on from the BIS discussion paper on Transparency & Trust published on 15 July 2013 and the consultation issued on 7 October 2013 under the Red Tape Challenge on company filing requirements.
It has now passed to committee stage and written evidence has been requested, which the committee is expected to consider during October. It is anticipated that this will receive Royal Assent prior to the election in May 2015, but is not likely to come into to force until April 2016, so as to allow Companies House and various other bodies enough time to make the necessary procedural changes to their systems.
Among other matters, the Bill proposes changes to both the Companies Act 2006 and the Company Directors Disqualification Act 2006 relating to:
- New register of people with significant control
- Abolition of bearer shares
- Prohibition on appointment of a director that is not a natural person
- Replacing the annual return with a confirmation statement
- Extending the statutory duties of directors to include shadow directors
- Extending the provisions relating to disqualification of directors to include overseas companies
- Amending the format of the statement of capital.
During October our company secretarial business will be issuing its regular update newsletter, which will provide an in depth review of the proposed legislation and its impact on companies.
If you do not already receive copies of the update newsletter please contact your relationship manager to be added to the mailing list.
Ezine issue: October 2014