Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013

Amendment of section 128 of Companies Act 1963

4. Section 128 of the Companies Act 1963 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by substituting the following for paragraphs (a) to (c)—

“(a) a copy of every balance sheet laid or to be laid before the annual general meeting of the company for that year (including every document required by law to be annexed to the balance sheet); and

(b) a copy of the report of the auditors on, and of the report of the directors accompanying, each such balance sheet; and

(c) where any such balance sheet or document required by law to be annexed thereto is in any language other than the English or Irish language, there shall be annexed to that balance sheet a translation in English or Irish of the balance sheet or document certified in the prescribed manner to be a correct translation,

and each reference in this subsection to a copy shall be construed in accordance with subsection (1A).”,

(b) by inserting after subsection (1) the following—

“(1A) Each reference in subsection (1) to a copy of a document is a reference to a copy that satisfies the following conditions—

(a) it is a true copy of the original save for the difference that the signature or signatures on the original, and any date or dates thereon, shall appear in typeset form on the copy; and

(b) it is accompanied by a certificate of a director and the secretary of the company, that bears the signature of the director and the secretary in electronic or written form, stating that the copy is a true copy of the original (and one such certificate relating to all of the documents mentioned in subsection (1) suffices and the foregoing statement need not be qualified on account of the difference permitted by paragraph (a) as to the form of a signature or of a date).”,

(c) in subsection (2), after “and the fact that the copy has been so amended shall be stated thereon”, by inserting “, and any amendments so made and that statement shall be in typeset form”,

(d) in subsection (6B), by substituting the following for paragraphs (a) and (b)—

“(a) confirms that they audited the accounts for the relevant year, and

(b) includes within it the report made to the members of the company pursuant to section 193 of the Act of 1990,

and such report shall state the name of the auditors and be signed and dated (and section 193(4G)(b) of the Act of 1990 shall apply as regards such signing as it applies to the signing of an auditors’ report referred to in paragraph (b)).”,

and

(e) by substituting the following for subsection (6C)—

“(6C) A copy of the report prepared in accordance with subsection (6B) shall be attached to the company’s annual return and ‘copy’ in this subsection means a copy that satisfies the following conditions—

(a) it is a true copy of the original save for the difference that the signature or signatures on the original, and any date or dates thereon, shall appear in typeset form on the copy; and

(b) it is accompanied by a certificate of a director and the secretary of the company, that bears the signature of the director and the secretary in electronic or written form, stating that the copy is a true copy of the original (and the foregoing statement need not be qualified on account of the difference permitted by paragraph (a) as to the form of a signature or of a date).”.