Clause 103
Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Industry and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Barking, Labour)
The clause prescribes the contents of the application for re-registration and the documents that must accompany it. It replaces sections 49(4) to 49(8)(a) of the 1985 Act. The current requirement for a statutory declaration made by the directors on application for re-registration as an unlimited company is replaced by a requirement for a statement of compliance. Unlike most other statements of compliance made under the Bill, the one made on application for re-registration as an unlimited company must contain a statement by the directors confirming that the persons by whom or on whose behalf the form of assent is authenticated constitute the whole membership of the company, and if any of the members have not authenticated the form themselves, that the directors have taken all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that each person who authenticated it on behalf of a member was lawfully empowered to do so. The contents of the directors’ statement carry forward the provisions of section 49(8) of the 1985 Act, which requires a
“prescribed form of assent to company being registered as unlimited”.
On that basis, I urge Members to support clause stand part.