The Companies Act 1989 (Commencement No. 2) Order 1990

Citation

1.  This Order may be cited as the Companies Act 1989 (Commencement No. 2) Order 1990.

Provisions of the Companies Act 1989 commenced by this Order

2.  In Part I of the Companies Act 1989, sections 1 and 15 shall come into force on 1st March 1990 for the purpose of inserting the new section 251 into Part VII of the Companies Act 1985(1) in place of the existing section 251, subject to the transitional and saving provisions set out in article 8 below.

3.  The provisions of Part II of the Companies Act 1989 specified in the first column of the Schedule to this Order shall come into force on 1st March 1990 for the purposes specified in the second column thereof.

4.  Insofar as they are not yet in force, the provisions of Part III of the Companies Act 1989 shall come into force on 21st February 1990:

(a) except for sections 65(2)(g) and 75(3)(c) thereof to the extent that they refer to a body established by order under section 46 of that Act; and

(b) except to the extent that sections 65(2), 75(3), 80, 81(2) and (5) and 87(4) thereof refer to Part VII of that Act.

5.  In Part V of the Companies Act 1989 paragraphs 1, 8, 9, 12, 19 and 21 of Schedule 19, together with section 145 so far as it relates to those paragraphs, shall come into force on 1st March 1990.

6.  In Part VI of the Companies Act 1989:

(a) section 152 shall come into force on 1st March 1990;

(b) sections 146 and 151 shall come into force on 1st April 1990; and

(c) paragraphs 1, 13, 17, 21 and 26 of Schedule 20, together with section 153 so far as it relates to those paragraphs, shall come into force on 1st April 1990(2).

7.  In Part X of the Companies Act 1989:

(a) section 208 shall come into force on 1st March 1990;

(b) section 209 shall come into force on 21st February 1990;

(c) section 210 shall come into force on 1st April 1990;

(d) the repeals effected by Schedule 24 in or of sections 46(3) and 85 of the Fair Trading Act 1973(3), sections 435, 440, 443, 446, 447, 449, 452 and 735A of the Companies Act 1985, section 21(2) of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986(4), sections 94, 105, 179, 180, 198(1) and 199(1) of the Financial Services Act 1986(5) and section 84(1) of the Banking Act 1987(6), together with section 212 so far as relating to those repeals, shall come into force on, in the case of the repeals in the Companies Act 1985, Financial Services Act 1986 and Banking Act 1987, 21st February 1990, in the case of the repeal in the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, 1st March 1990, and in the case of the repeals in the Fair Trading Act 1973, 1st April 1990; and

(e) sections 213 to 215 shall come into force on 2nd February 1990, insofar as they are not already in force.

Transitional provisions relating to section 15

8.—(1) In this article, “the unamended Part VII” means Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 prior to its amendment by the provisions of Part I of the Companies Act 1989 (except for the insertion of the new section 251 as a result of article 2 of this Order) and “a company’s accounts” means the documents referred to in section 239 of the unamended Part VII.

(2) The new section 251 inserted by section 15 of the Companies Act 1989 shall apply with respect to a financial year for which a company’s accounts are prepared under the provisions of the unamended Part VII as if:

(a) the references in sub-sections (1) and (2) thereof to section 238(1) were references to section 240(1) of the unamended Part VII;

(b) the references therein to the company’s annual accounts were references to the documents referred to in section 239(a) and (d) of the unamended Part VII;

(c) the reference in sub-section 4(d) thereof to section 237(3) was a reference to section 237(4) of the unamended Part VII; and

(d) the reference in sub-section (7) thereof to section 240 was a reference to section 255 of the unamended Part VII.

(3) The repeal of the existing section 251 of the Companies Act 1985 by sections 1 and 15 of the Companies Act 1989 shall not affect the continued operation of any regulations previously made thereunder(7).

John Redwood

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

Department of Trade and Industry

31st January 1990