The Building Societies Act 1986 (Electronic Communications) Order 2003

Electronic transmission of notice of meetings

14.  In Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act, after paragraph 22 (persons entitled to notice of meetings) insert—

“Transmission of notice of meeting to an electronic address

22A— (1) Where a notice of a meeting of a society is required to be sent to a person under any provision of this Act, the notice may be sent to him electronically only if it is sent to an electronic address notified by him to the society for the purpose.

(2) In a case in which this paragraph is relied on for compliance with a requirement to send a notice, a notice given in accordance with this paragraph is to be treated as given to a person on the day that the notice is transmitted.

Publication of notice of meeting on a web site

22B— (1) A requirement under any provision of this Act to send a notice of a meeting of the society to a person shall also be treated as satisfied if the conditions set out in sub-paragraph (2) are satisfied.

(2) The conditions of this sub-paragraph are satisfied in the case of a notice of a meeting of a society if—

(a) the society and the person have agreed that notices which are required to be sent to him may instead be accessed by him on a web site;

(b) the agreement applies to the notice in question

(c) that person is notified, in a manner agreed between him and the society for that purpose, of—

(i) the publication of the notice on a web site,

(ii) the address of that web site, and

(iii) the place on that web site where the notice may be accessed, and how it may be accessed; and

(d) the notice is published continuously on that web site throughout the period beginning with the giving of that notification and ending with the conclusion of the meeting.

(3) A notification given for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)(c) must—

(a) state that it concerns a notice of a meeting of the society served in accordance with this Act;

(b) specify the place, date and time of the meeting; and

(c) state whether the meeting is to be an annual or special general meeting.

(4) In a case in which this paragraph is relied on for compliance with a requirement to send a notice, a notice given in accordance with this paragraph is to be treated as given to a person on the day that person is notified in compliance with sub-paragraphs (2)(c) and (3).

(5) Where, in a case in which this paragraph is relied on for compliance with a requirement to send a notice of a meeting—

(a) a notice is published for a part, but not all, of the period mentioned in sub-paragraph (2)(d), but

(b) the failure to publish it throughout that period is wholly attributable to circumstances which it would not be reasonable to have expected the society to prevent or avoid,

the failure shall not invalidate the proceedings of the meeting.”.