3.—(1) For the purposes of the principal Order and this Order, an “old public company” is a company limited by shares or by guarantee and having a share capital in respect of which the following conditions are satisfied—
(a)the company either existed on 1st July 1983 or was incorporated after that date pursuant to an application made before that date,
(b)on that date or, if later, on the date of the company's incorporation the company was not or (as the case may be) would not have been a private company within the meaning of section 28 of the Act of 1960, and
(c)the company has not since that date or the date of the company's incorporation (as the case may be) either been re-registered as a public company or become a private company.
(2) References in the principal Order (other than so much of it as is derived from Part II of the Order of 1981, and other than Article 43 (prohibition on trading under misleading name)) to a public company or a company other than a private company are to be read as including (unless the context otherwise requires) references to an old public company, and references in that Order to a private company are to be read accordingly.