COMPANIES ACT 2006 AND PRIVATE COMPANIES

Companies Act 2006 received Royal Assent last November. Some of its provisions came into effect in January 2007 and the remainder are due to come into effect by October 2008. The Act consists of 1300 sections and is the single largest piece of legislation ever made. It consolidates and replaces existing company law contained in Companies Acts 1985, 1989 and 2004. It also introduces numerous new rules. Whilst many of the rules introduced for public companies are seen as onerous, as far as private limited companies are concerned, the aim of the Act was to deregulate private company administration with the new regime being much simpler and more lightly regulated.