Schedule 4 Part I: Minor and consequential amendments about disqualification of company directors etc.
103.All of the provisions in this Part amend the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Paragraphs 104 to 108 refer to particular amendments.
104.Provision is made as to the court in which an application for a disqualification order under Section 6 of that Act should be made. For example, where the company in question is being or has been wound up by the court, the application is made to that court. Proceedings are not invalidated by reasons of their being taken in the wrong court. (Paragraph 5 of Schedule 4).
105.Provision is made for Section 13 (criminal penalties for breach of disqualification order) and 15 (personal liability for company’s debts where a person acts while disqualified) of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 to apply in relation to Northern Irish disqualification orders. (Paragraphs 8 and 10 of Schedule 4).
106.Provision is made as to which court can give a disqualified person leave to act as a director or as a receiver (other than an administrative receiver) of the property of a company or to be concerned in the promotion, formation or management of a company. For example, where a person is subject to a disqualification order made by a court having jurisdiction to wind up companies, that person is required to make his application to that court. If a person is subject to a disqualification undertaking, the application for leave has to be made to a court to which the Secretary of State could have applied for a disqualification order had he not accepted the undertaking. Special provision is made for leave in a case where a person is subject to more than one disqualification order or undertaking. The amendments also require the Secretary of State to appear on the hearing of such an application. (Paragraph 12 of Schedule 4).
107.Regulations may be made for Northern Irish disqualification orders to be recorded in the register kept under Section 18 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. (Paragraph 13(5) of Schedule 4).
108.Rules made under Section 411 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (Insolvency Rules) or any order made under Section 414 (Fees Order), 420 (insolvent partnerships order) or 422 (order applying parts of Insolvency Act to banks) of that Act may include provisions relating to Sections 1A (as inserted by Section 6 of the Act), 13 and 14 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The first of those sections relates to disqualification undertakings and the second and third (as they are going to be amended by the Schedule) to offences relating to the breach of disqualification undertakings or orders. (Paragraph 14 of Schedule 4).
Part II: Consequential amendments of other enactments
109.Provisions in the Insolvency Act 1986, the Charities Act 1993, the Pensions Act 1995, the Police Act 1996 the Housing Act 1996 and the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 make reference to disqualification orders under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The paragraphs in this Part of the Schedule make consequential amendments to those provisions so as to give disqualification undertakings and Northern Irish disqualification orders the same effect in the context of each of those Acts, as a disqualification order made under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The Police Act 1997 is similarly modified but only in respect of disqualification undertakings.
