The Insolvency Practitioners and Insolvency Account (Fees) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Insolvency Practitioners and Insolvency Account (Fees) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.I. 2006/53) (“the principal Order”) by inserting a new fee where unclaimed or undistributed dividends or other monies are paid into the Insolvency Account. Article 361A under which this Order and the principal Order are made was inserted into the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/2405 (N.I. 19)) by Article 26 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/1455 (N.I. 10)).

Article 2(2) of this Order reflects that Article 605 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (companies winding up) will be repealed and replaced by section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006, which comes into force on 1st October 2009. This provides that when a company is dissolved, all property and rights whatsoever vested in or held in trust for the company immediately before its dissolution (including leasehold property, but not including property held by the company on trust for any other person) are deemed to be “bona vacantia” and payable to the Crown.

Article 2(3) updates Schedule 1 to the principal Order which makes provision for the payment of fees in relation to the operation of the Insolvency Account.

Regulation 18 of the Insolvency Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No.574) requires, in the case of a company wound up by the court, and permits, in the case of a voluntary winding up, a Liquidator of a company which has been dissolved to pay into the Insolvency Account any unclaimed or undistributed dividends held by him (“unclaimed dividends”). Two new provisions (Regulations 3B and 3C) inserted into those Regulations by the Insolvency (Amendment) Regulations 2009 make corresponding provision with respect to monies held by an administrator or administrative receiver save that the provisions are not mandatory but permissive. Two new fees (1A and 1B), payable under the new Regulations, are inserted into Schedule 1 to the principal Order, specifying the fee payable upon the making of payments into the Insolvency Account. In each case, the fee is £25 in respect of any one payment in of any unclaimed funds in respect of each company to which those funds relate.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) has not been prepared for this Order. An RIA was prepared for the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 which deals with the restructuring of the system for insolvency fees. Copies of this are available from the Legislation Unit, The Insolvency Service, Fermanagh House, 20A Ormeau Avenue, Belfast BT2 8NJ.