Companies Act 2006
The Companies Act 2006 which received Royal Assent in November 2006 consists of 1300 sections and is the thought to be the single largest piece of legislation ever made. This Act restates and replaces most of the company law provisions brought in by the previous Acts. The 2006 Act introduces an extensive range of changes to areas of company law such as the formation of a company, directors’ duties and liabilities, members/shareholders rights and share capital maintenance.
Although the majority of the provisions contained in the Act were not due to come into force until 1st October 2008, which has subsequently been postponed to 1st October 2009, a number of provisions such as the codification of directors duties, transactions with directors, written resolutions and changes to the law on meetings, electronic communications with members and increased rights for proxies came into force in 2007.
The 2006 Act now enables companies to correspond with their members by electronic communication.
Under the Companies Act 19851, companies were permitted to send notices of meetings and copies of their annual accounts and directors reports by means of electronic communication, provided that the company and the recipient agreed. The 2006 Act allows for members and companies to communicate via electronic means and the scope of the term has been widened. The company communications provisions of the Companies Act 2006 are to be found under sections 1143 to 1148 in Part 37 and the accompanying Schedules 4 and 5.
These provisions came into force in January 2007. The reasons for this part of the Act coming into force at this early stage was to insure the EU Transparency Obligations Directives were complied with and to allow early delivery of the benefits of e-communications. These benefits include significant monetary savings to business, improved accessibility to information for all parties involved in the company, and provides a way for a direct dialogue between
Although the majority of the provisions contained in the Act were not due to come into force until 1st October 2008, which has subsequently been postponed to 1st October 2009, a number of provisions such as the codification of directors duties, transactions with directors, written resolutions and changes to the law on meetings, electronic communications with members and increased rights for proxies came into force in 2007.
The 2006 Act now enables companies to correspond with their members by electronic communication.
Under the Companies Act 19851, companies were permitted to send notices of meetings and copies of their annual accounts and directors reports by means of electronic communication, provided that the company and the recipient agreed. The 2006 Act allows for members and companies to communicate via electronic means and the scope of the term has been widened. The company communications provisions of the Companies Act 2006 are to be found under sections 1143 to 1148 in Part 37 and the accompanying Schedules 4 and 5.
These provisions came into force in January 2007. The reasons for this part of the Act coming into force at this early stage was to insure the EU Transparency Obligations Directives were complied with and to allow early delivery of the benefits of e-communications. These benefits include significant monetary savings to business, improved accessibility to information for all parties involved in the company, and provides a way for a direct dialogue between
Bibliography: 5 Part 9, S 145 (4) CA 2006 6 Harben v Phillips (1882) 11 Foss v Harbottle (1843) 2 Hare 461. 12 Attorney General Reference (No 2 of 1982) (1984) 13 Bugle Press Ltd (1960) 14 Part 11, Chapter 2 S265 (3)