Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Bill 2020

Public bill · Government · Presented

The measure gives companies and industrial and provident societies temporary rules to keep operating during Covid-19, including more time to hold annual meetings, permission for fully online or mixed online-and-in-person meetings, and simpler signing of company documents when people are working apart. It also lets businesses delay, move or change meetings if public health advice makes normal gatherings unsafe, and it gives some breathing room in insolvency law by extending examinership time limits and raising the debt level needed before a company can be forced into winding up. It matters because it helps firms stay compliant, protect jobs and avoid unnecessary failures during the crisis.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act, having regard to the risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of the disease known as Covid-19 and, in response to the economic difficulties caused by that disease, to make exceptional provision in relation to the operation of certain provisions of the Companies Act 2014 and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893 for a certain period and such further period (if any) as may be specified by order of the Government and, for that purpose, to amend the Companies Act 2014 and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893; to further amend the Companies Act 2014; and to provide for related matters.

Last updated 17 August 2020