Vol. 450 No. 7
18 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment when he intends to review the application of company law to small companies; in view of the high number of forms that are fileable at the Companies Registration Office, if he will reduce the burden this places on small companies: and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5632/95]
In its first report, the Company Law Review Group recommended that the application of company law generally to small companies should be examined either in a future phase of their work or that of some other such group. I will be examining the appropriateness of this recommendation as part of my overall examination of all the recommendations made in the first report of the Company Law Review Group.
However, I have to point out that for the vast majority of small companies, the only return that they have to make to the Companies Registration Office is their annual return. I do not think that this could be considered to place an undue burden on small companies. Indeed, the task force on small business made specific reference to two company law issues only — company registration and audit. The Company Law Review Group commented that this would seem to support the view that company law does not impact onerously on a day-to-day basis on small companies.
