New law for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships

Under new regulations that came into force on 1st January 2007, the longstanding statutory requirement for companies to state certain particulars on their stationery and other hardcopy documents has been extended to websites and various electronic communications.

The regulations amend the relevant provisions of the Companies Act 1985. It is now an offence, among other things, for a company incorporated under the Companies Acts not to state:

• the company's name,/li>
• its place of registration and the number with which it is registered, and
• the address of its registered office,

If a company fails to comply with these provisions the company and its directors are liable to a fine.

Many companies will already be displaying such information. However, in order to be sure, it is recommended that all companies and Limited Liability Partnerships carry out a review of their systems to ensure compliance with the changes.

Most companies' correspondence is now conducted primarily by email. Email messages are therefore potentially business letters in electronic form for these purposes. Companies should consider adding the required information to the boilerplate language that typically appears automatically at the end of all their emails.

It is unclear from the wording of the legislation whether "all the company's websites" requires the necessary particulars to appear only on the main homepage or on each separate page of the site. Accordingly, the most cautious approach would be to ensure that these details are included on every page along with the usual copyright notices.

These changes in the law are the first of a substantial wave of changes to company law that are due to come into effect following the passing of the Companies Act 2006 in November last year. Accordingly it is important that companies and their officers stay informed of these changes.

For further information contact David Hogg at david.hogg@close-thornton.co.uk or call him on 01325 466461

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