Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013

1.. Definition

1. In this Act “Minister” means the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

2.. Amendment of Companies (Amendment) Act 1990

2.—F1[…]

3.. Amendment of sections 7, 17 and 18 of Companies (Amendment) Act 1986

3.— F2[…]

4.. Amendment of section 128 of Companies Act 1963

4.— F3[…]

5.. Designated officers: provision for certain contingencies that may arise in relation to them

5.— F4[…]

6.. Disclosure of information to Director of Corporate Enforcement or his or her officers

6.— F5[…]

7.. Amendment of Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act 2003

7.— F6[…]

8.. Provision in respect of certain discretion afforded by Commission Decision 2011/30/EU

8.—F7[…]

9.. Amendment of Personal Insolvency Act 2012

9. The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 is amended—

(a) in section 25, by substituting the following definition for the definition of “debt”:

“ ‘debt’, in relation to a debtor, means a debt for a liquidated sum that, on the application date, is payable either immediately or at some certain future time;”,

(b) in section 26, by deleting subsection (4),

(c) in section 27(6), by substituting the following for paragraph (a):

“(a) the information contained in the debtor’s Prescribed Financial Statement is true and accurate in all material respects, and”,

(d) in section 43(3)(b), by substituting the following for subparagraph (v):

“(v) the procedural requirements specified in this Chapter were not complied with;

(vi) the specified debtor, by his or her conduct within the period of 6 months ending on the application date, arranged his or her financial affairs primarily with a view to being or becoming eligible for the issue of a Debt Relief Notice.”,

and

(e) in section 44(3), by substituting the following for paragraph (f):

“(f) the procedural requirements specified in this Chapter were not complied with;

(g) the specified debtor, by his or her conduct within the period of 6 months ending on the application date, arranged his or her financial affairs primarily with a view to being or becoming eligible for the issue of a Debt Relief Notice.”.

10.. Amendment of Bankruptcy Act 1988

10. The Bankruptcy Act 1988 is amended—

(a) in section 17 by the substitution of the following for subsection (2):

“(2) The Court shall cause notice of the adjudication to be given as soon as may be in the prescribed manner in the Iris Oifigiúil, and—

(a) in at least one daily newspaper circulating in the State, or

(b) by the publication of the notice on the website of the Insolvency Service of Ireland.”,

(b) in section 105, by the substitution of the following for subsection (2):

“(2) On an adjudication under subsection (1) the Court shall proceed as in bankruptcy and cause notice of the adjudication to be given forthwith in the prescribed manner in the Iris Oifigiúil, and—

(a) in at least one daily newspaper circulating in the State, or

(b) by the publication of the notice on the website of the Insolvency Service of Ireland,

and the petitioner shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Court in the same manner as any other bankrupt, and any proposal which may have been made or accepted or approved shall be void.”,

(c) by the substitution of the following for section 130:

“Arranging publication of notice without authority

(a) arranges for or causes the publication of a notice under this Act—

(i) in the Iris Oifigiúil,

(ii) in a newspaper, or

(iii) on the website of the Insolvency Service of Ireland,

without authority under this Act, or

(b) arranges or causes the publication of such a notice, knowing that the contents of such notice are false in a material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence.”,

(d) in section 140A—

(i) by the insertion after subsection (1) of the following subsection:

“(1A) The register referred to in subsection (1) may be kept in electronic format.”,

(ii) in subsection (3) by the substitution of the following for paragraph (c):

“(c) any fee prescribed for that purpose by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.”,

and

(iii) by the substitution of the following for subsection (5):

“(5) The register shall be open to public inspection on payment of such fee (if any) as may be prescribed for that purpose by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.”,

(e) in section 140B(1) by the substitution of—

“in the prescribed manner—

(i) in the Iris Oifigiúil, and

(ii) in either—

(I) at least one daily newspaper circulating in the State, or

(II) on the website of the Insolvency Service of Ireland.”

for

“in the prescribed manner in Iris Oifigiúil and in at least one daily newspaper circulating in the State.”,

and

(f) by the substitution of the following for section 141:

“Publication of certain notices to be evidence

(a) in the Iris Oifigiúil,

(b) in a daily newspaper circulating in the State, or

(c) on the website of the Insolvency Service of Ireland,

shall be evidence of the matters contained in the notice.”.

11.. Short title, construction and commencement

11. (1) This Act may be cited as the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013.

(2) The Companies Acts and this Act shall be read together as one.

(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), this Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.

(4) Sections 1, 5, 6, 9 and 10 shall come into operation on the date of the passing of this Act.

(5) Section 7 shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order (not being a day earlier than the day specified in subsection(6)).

6) The last-mentioned day in subsection (5) is the day on which the following function stands transferred, by virtue of an enactment or an instrument thereunder, to the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, namely the function of having in place a system of quality assurance, being the system—

(a) referred to in Regulation 83(1) of the Regulations of 2010 (within the meaning of section 8), and

(b) in so far as it relates to the activities of statutory auditors and audit firms in auditing the accounts of public-interest entities (within the meaning of those Regulations).