COMPANIES (RESCUE PROCESS FOR SMALL AND MICRO COMPANIES) ACT 2021

PART 3 Miscellaneous Amendments of Companies Act 2014

4. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

4. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (1), by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘process adviser’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 558A;”.

5. Amendment of section 511 of Principal Act

5. Section 511 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (3)(d), by the substitution of “dissipation” for “disappearance”.

6. Amendment of section 587 of Principal Act

6. Section 587 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (aa):

• “(ab) inform the creditors of the company of their power to appoint a committee of inspection under section 667,”.

7. Amendment of section 610 of Principal Act

7. Section 610 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1)—

• (i) by the insertion of “, or in the course of a rescue period under Part 10A in respect of an eligible company,” after “company”, where it secondly occurs, and

• (ii) by the substitution of “liquidator, examiner or process adviser of the company” for “liquidator or examiner of the company”,

and

• (b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (8):

• “(9) In assessing any application under this section, the court may take into account whether section 558S(5) applies to a director of a company.

• (10) In this section, ‘eligible company’, ‘process adviser’ and ‘rescue period’ have the meanings assigned to them by section 558A.”.

8. Amendment of section 627 of Principal Act

8. Section 627 of the Principal Act is amended in the Table to the section—

• (a) in paragraph 1(a), by the insertion of “(including proceedings before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court)” after “proceeding”, and

• (b) in paragraph 1(b), by the insertion of “(including proceedings before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court)” after “proceeding”.

9. Amendment of section 666 of Principal Act

9. Section 666 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

• “(1)

  • (a) When a winding-up order has been made by the court, the liquidator shall inform the creditors of the company of their power to appoint a committee of inspection under this section.

  • (b) When a winding-up order has been made by the court, the liquidator may and, if directed to do so by a creditor or creditors representing not less than one-tenth in value of the creditors of the company shall, summon a meeting of the creditors of the company for the purpose of determining—

    • (i) whether or not a committee of inspection is to be appointed, and

    • (ii) who are to be the members of the committee if so appointed.”,

• (b) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (2A), at a meeting” for “At a meeting”,

• (c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

• “(2A) Where the employees of the company elect or appoint one of their number as an employees’ representative for the purpose of serving on any committee of inspection referred to in subsection (2), the person so elected or appointed shall be one of the persons appointed under that subsection.”,

and

• (d) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

• “(7) If a liquidator, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1)(a), he or she shall be guilty of a category 4 offence.”.

10. Amendment of section 667 of Principal Act

10. Section 667 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “Subject to subsection (1A), the creditors” for “The creditors”, and

• (b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

• “(1A) Where the employees of the company elect or appoint one of their number as an employees’ representative for the purpose of serving on any committee of inspection as mentioned in subsection (1), the person so elected or appointed shall be one of the persons appointed under that subsection.”.

11. Amendment of section 668 of Principal Act

11. Section 668 of the Principal Act is amended—

• (a) in subsection (6) by the insertion of “, subject to subsection (6A),” after “office or”, and

• (b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

• “(6A) Where—

  • (a) the person who vacated office had been appointed by virtue of section 666(2A) or 667(1A), and

  • (b) the employees of the company elect or appoint another of their number under section 666(2A) or, as the case may be, section 667(1A),

  the person so elected or appointed shall, subject to subsection (7), be appointed to fill the vacancy.”.

12. Amendment of section 690A of Principal Act

12. Section 690A of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (11), in the definition of “creditors’ meeting”, by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (f):

• “(fa) section 558T;”.