UK: The Companies Act 2006 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional Provisions) Order - revised draft published

Today a revised draft of the Companies Act 2006 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional Provisions) Order was published by BERR (available here as a Word document).  This replaces the draft published on 2 May. In the explanatory text (see this Word document) the Government explained the new provisions within the Order:

The new provisions in this revised draft are to commence the repeal of the bar, contained in the current legislation, on restoration of companies which were dissolved before 16 November 1969 (11 March 1971 in Northern Ireland). The bar could be retained using separate powers under the 2006 Act. However, the Government do not propose to retain the bar. Further, as it is proposed not to retain the current bar, the Government proposes to remove it without waiting for the commencement of the restoration provisions in Part 31 of the 2006 Act in October 2009. The Government therefore proposes to commence the relevant repeals together with the other commencements contained in the Seventh Commencement Order, to take effect as from 1 October 2008. These repeals are therefore provided for in Article 2 of the revised draft Order"

The following explanation was provided by the Government for repealing the bar:

The current bar means that some ex-employees or their estates are unable to press claims for compensation in respect of personal injury or fatal accident, either against the employing company, its insurers or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, simply because the company was dissolved prior to 1969 (or 1971 in Northern Ireland). Removing the bar may therefore enable such ex-employees or their estates to receive compensation which they are currently unable to obtain. This may be relevant in particular to sufferers of so-called long-tail diseases, such as mesothelioma.

In 1998 the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission sought views in their consultation on the reform of the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 on the case for removing the bar on restoration of companies dissolved before 1969. In publishing their recommendations (Law Commission Report No. 272, Scottish Law Commission Report No. 184) they reported that most respondents to the consultation agreed that section 651 and section 141 should be amended.

The Government further take the view that, as it is proposed not to retain the current bar, it would be desirable to remove it without waiting for the commencement of Part 31 of the 2006 Act in October 2009. "