Plans afoot to fast track company law changes
Proposals to make it possible to change company law by order instead of Act of Parliament have been unveiled by trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt.
Link: White Paper: Modernising company law
She published a consultative document on proposals for a general power to reform company legislation by means of statutory instrument following an enhanced consultation process and debates on draft proposals in parliamentary committees.
The document follows prolonged delays taking forward the major reform of company law implementing the independent Company Law Review which, Hewitt again pledged, will be passed ‘as soon as parliamentary time allows’.
Summary: The Company Law Review
In a written statement to the Commons she said her proposals were ‘designed to help ensure that company law remains up-to-date in future, and to make it clearer and more easily accessible in particular for smaller firms’.
She said she wants a new type of legislative power enabling company law in future to be amended by a special form of secondary legislation, making it easier to keep the legislation updated over time.
The new power would also be used to rewrite or ‘restate’ parts of the law to make it simpler, particularly for small firms and their advisers as well as ‘reform’ aspects of company law in future.
She said she would use the power to bring all the key operational provisions relating to smaller private companies together.
The consultation will end on 24 September. The new powers, if agreed, will be included in the proposed Companies Bill.