知り合いコミュのCompanies Act 1993 Part 1

I thought it would be good to start off by talking about the key legislation in New Zealand which governs business.

Under New Zealand law, the most pertinent piece of business legislation one will deal with is the Companies Act 1993.

The Companies Act 1993 was enacted in September 1993 and came into force on 1 July 1994.

The Act contains only core company law, that is the law applying to all companies, providing for the incorporation, administration, and termination of companies.

It does not contain provisions relating to securities law, for example, or to other non-core areas, such as receivership law, the registration of company charges, and company takeovers. Each of these is dealt with in its own specific piece of legislation.

The Act introduced huge changes relating to capital. The abiility of a company to buy its own shares and to give financial assistance for the purchase of its own shares are in stark contrast to the previous prohibitions on both of these activities under the Companies Act 1955. The new provisions allow more flexibility in capital restructuring.

Another pivotal feature of the 1993 Act is the solvency test.

[Drafting Note: I will talk more about this is due course]