The Parliamentary Monitoring Group has published a copy of the Companies Act 2008. According to the PMG the Act became law earlier this month but it's not yet clear when its various provisions will be brought into force. The following provisions have caught my eye. Section 76 sets out the core duties of directors. Section 163 provides shareholders with a remedy in respect of unfairly prejudicial conduct. A statutory derivative action is introduced by Section 165, replacing the shareholder's common law right to bring an action on behalf of the company.
The requirement for auditor rotation is in Section 92, which provides that "[the] same individual may not serve as the auditor or designated auditor of a company for more than five consecutive financial years". Section 72, titled "Board committees", provides the Government with the power to require certain companies to establish a social and ethics committee.
Note: earlier this year the South African Institute of Directors published a draft of the King III code of corporate governance - see here.
Update (16 April 2009): for further information about the Act, see the press release issued today by the Department for Trade and Industry.
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