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Companies Act 2006

Commencement of Act provisions on 1 October 2008

Some important provisions were commenced on 1 October 2008. These include:

• the general duties of directors in respect of conflicts of interest;
• the new procedure for private companies to make capital reductions supported by a solvency statement instead of by a court order;
• a new requirement on companies to have at least one natural person as a director (some existing companies will have more time before the rules change);
• a new minimum age of 16 for directors.

The restrictions under the Companies Act 1985 on financial assistance by private companies for the acquisition of their own shares were also repealed with effect from 1 October 2008.

Secondary legislation

All statutory instruments (SIs) relating to the commencement of provisions of the Act in 2007 and 2008 have now been made. Further details, including links to the SIs and Explanatory Memoranda on the OPSI website, are available on the Regulations and Commencement Orders – made or laid in draft page.

The Eighth Commencement Order, which will commence remaining provisions of the Act with effect from 1 October 2009, was made on 5 November 2008, and is also available on the Regulations and Commencement Orders – made or laid in draft page.

The Department has published revised drafts of many of the other SIs which we intend to make in respect of the commencement of provisions of the Act in October 2009. These are available on the Regulations – draft page.

Companies Act 2006 Final Implementation Timetable

The final implementation timetable can be found at :

Companies Act 2006: table of commencement dates (61KB)

Copies of the Ministerial Written Statements about the commencement timetable, including the Written Statement made by Stephen Timms on 13 December 2007 providing final confirmation of the implementation timetable, are available under “External links” on the right hand side of this page.