Companies Act 1985

243 Penalty for non-compliance with s. 241

(1) If for a financial year of a company any of the requirements of section 241(1) or (3) is not complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts, every person who immediately before the end of that period was a director of the company is, in respect of each of those subsections which is not so complied with, guilty of an offence and liable to a fine and. for continued contravention, to a daily default fine.

(2) If a person is charged with that offence in respect of any of the requirements of section 241(1) or (3), it is a defence for him to prove that he took all reasonable steps for securing that those requirements would be complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts.

(3) If in respect of the company's financial year any of the requirements of section 241(3) is not complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts, the company is liable to a penalty, recoverable in civil proceedings by the Secretary of State.

(4) The amount of the penalty is determined by reference to the length of the period between the end of the accounting reference period and the earliest day by which all those requirements have been complied with, and is—

(a) £20 where the period Ls not more than one month,

(b) £50 where the period is more than 1 month but not more than 3 months,

(c) £100 where the period is more than 3 months but not more than 6 months,

(d) £200 where the period is more than 6 months but not more than 12 months, and

(e) £450 where the period is more than 12 months.

(5) In proceedings under this section with respect to a requirement to lay a copy of a document before a company in general meeting, or to deliver a copy of a document to the registrar of companies, it is not a defence to prove that the document in question was not in fact prepared as required by this Part.

(6) Subsections (3) and (4) of this section do not come into force unless and until made to do so by an order of the Secretary of State in a statutory instrument.