Companies Bill published

The Companies Bill 2012, the largest substantive Bill in the history of the State, has been published by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.

The landmark reform of company law aims to cut the cost of starting a company. It will provide significant benefits to companies by reducing red tape and making company law obligations easier to understand.

Changes included in the Bill will mean that many of the 12,500 private companies limited by shares which are established every year will be able to incorporate more easily, resulting in average savings of €1,200 in professional fees in each case.

It will also be possible for such a company to have one director as there will no longer be a requirement to have a second director merely to comply with a requirement of the law.

Such companies will not be required to hold a physical annual general meeting. Instead the business required to be carried out at an agm can be completed by written procedure.

Another innovation is that such a company will no longer be required to have an objects clause, setting out what the company does and does not have the capacity to do.

This is designed to aid commercial transactions and interaction with banks, which will no longer have to establish whether a company has the legal powers to borrow money for the purpose of the activity it wishes to carry out.

"This Government is determined to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business, so that more businesses can start-up, grow and create the jobs we need, and a key part of our plan is implementing a series of changes to reduce the red tape and administrative burdens imposed by Government on business," Minister Bruton said.