Our New Zealand expert John Thorman gives an update on the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill and what will soon be required by companies operating in the country.
Last month,
New Zealand's Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment
Bill had its third reading. As a result, this Bill now creates the
Companies Amendment Act (No 4) 2014 and the Limited Partnerships
Amendment Act (No 2) 2014 which will come into force around June
2015.
Existing companies (and LPs) have a further six months to comply
with the requirement to have at least one director (or partner in
the case of an LP) who is resident in New Zealand or is resident in
an "enforcement country". Enforcement countries will be
named in regulations but are likely to include
Australia, the
United Kingdom and the
United States.
Other main changes to the Acts include:
- Directors' personal information: directors and partners of limited partnerships will need to register the details of their date and place of birth with the Registrar
- Ultimate holding company information: every company will need to disclose details of its ultimate holding company (if the company has one)
- Criminal sanctions for breaches of directors' duties: it will be an offence for a director to act in bad faith towards the company, or to dishonestly allow an insolvent company to incur debts. Both of these offences will be punishable by up to 5 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to $200,000.
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