Companies Act Legislative Committee's main conclusions

Friday the 21st of October at 12.00, two important law reports were handed over to the Minister of Industry: the Companies Act Act legislative committee's report and the Foundation legislative committee's report. Employees from BI have played important roles in both legislative committees.

PhD Candidate Inger Julie Aasland has been a member of the Foundation legislative committee, while Professor Tore Bråthen has been head of: the Companies Act Act legislative committee, and assistant professor Stine Winger Minde has been secretary for the latter committee.

- This has been work around the clock since early winter, Tore Bråthen said about his role as chairman of the committee.

- This means that BI has been heavily involved in two of the main legislative committees for the business sector in the past year, he continued.

Following the presentation, the Department of jurisprudence arranged a presentation of the Companies Act legislation committee's report, which was preceded by Bråthen and Winger Minde.

The main points from the report, which was made public today:
• Significant changes in the Companies Acts § 3-8 on agreements between the company and shareholders or members of the company's board.
• The requirement for minimum share capital is reduced from 30 000 to 1 NOK.
• The Board's duty to act on loss of equity will be simplified and clarified.
• Room for increased use of electronic solutions
• Request for a variety of special certifications are revoked. In addition, it is proposed that a legal and financial institution can verify some of the special certifications.
• Corporations no longer need to decide to opt out of audit. Current thresholds for audit requirements are proposed to continue.
• The requirement for audit of the parent company is revoked, provided that the parent company meets the conditions for audit exemption and the threshold values of the overall Group is considered.
• The retention period for company documentation is reduced to five years.
• Simplified rules for companies where all shareholders are board members. In a number of cases, the general meeting shall be able to make decisions without the board's prior proposal.
• The Committee proposed no reversal of the simplifications of the Companies Act that entered into force on July 1st, 2013, but proposed some adjustments.