Companies Act 2006 – Section 353

Section 353: Requirements as to website availability

601. This section sets out the minimum requirements that should apply to information to be
published on a quoted company’s website under section 341 and section 351. The website on
which the information is made available must be maintained by or on behalf of the quoted
company and must identify the company in question. This provides flexibility as to whether a
website is the company’s own or one operated by a website service provider. Information
published on a website must be kept available for a minimum of two years. Subsection (5)
provides a let-out when a company’s failure to make the information available on a website
for part of the period is wholly attributable to circumstances beyond the company’s control.

Section 354: Power to limit or extend the types of company to which provisions of this
Chapter apply

602. At present the provisions of this Chapter apply to quoted companies as defined in
section 385, which replaces the definition of “quoted company” in section 262 of the 1985
Act. This section confers on the Secretary of State a power to make regulations to limit or
extend the types of company to which the provisions of this Chapter apply. The
Parliamentary procedure that will apply to such regulations depends on whether they extend
or limit the application of the Chapter.

CHAPTER 6: RECORDS OF RESOLUTIONS AND MEETINGS

603. The following provisions replace sections 382, 382A, 382B and 383 of the 1985 Act
relating to the records of company proceedings. They should be read in conjunction with the
provisions on company records in Part 31. The main changes are the ten year minimum
period for keeping records (the 1985 Act envisaged that records would be retained forever);
that meetings of directors are dealt with elsewhere (in Part 10 of the Act); and that the new
provisions apply to class meetings.

Section 355: Records of resolutions and meetings etc

604. This section requires all companies to maintain records comprising: copies of all
resolutions passed otherwise than at general meetings (which would include all written
resolutions), minutes of all proceedings of general meetings, and details of decisions of a sole
member taken in accordance with section 357. All records must be kept for a minimum of 10
years. Subsections (3) and (4) impose a penalty on every officer in default for noncompliance.

Section 356: Records as evidence of resolutions etc

605. This section ensures that all records of resolutions or written resolutions and minutes
of meetings, where signed off by a director or a company secretary or by the chairman in the
case of a general meeting, are evidence of the passing of a resolution or the proceedings at the
meeting. In legal proceedings, a litigant will have to accept that the records are accurate
unless he can prove that they are not.

Section 357: Records of decisions by sole member

606. This section makes provision for the recording of decisions of a company with only
one member.

Section 358: Inspection of records of resolutions and meetings

607. This section requires every company to keep its records available for inspection by
members for 10 years. Subsection (5) enables a member to seek a court order to compel the
company to make the records available for inspection or to provide copies of the records.

Section 359: Records of resolutions and meetings of class of members

608. This section applies the provisions of this Chapter to resolutions and meetings of
holders of a class of shares in the case of a company with share capital or to classes of
members in the case of a company without a share capital.

CHAPTER 7: SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

Section 360: Computation of periods of notice etc: clear day rule

609. This is a new provision to ensure clarity and consistency in the calculation of time
periods in relation to meetings and resolutions under Part 13. The section provides that in
calculating periods of notice, or periods before a meeting by which a request must be
received or sum deposited or tendered, the following are to be excluded –

• the day of the meeting,

• the day on which notice is given,

• the day on which the request is received or the sum is deposited or tendered.

Section 361: Meaning of “quoted company”

610. This section provides that the definition for “quoted company” is as stated in Part 15
(Accounts and reports) of the Act.