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The Standing Committee on Company Law Reform (SCCLR) published its 2005/06 annual report today (November 17).
In the report, the SCCLR mainly focused on a number of issues relating to the rewrite of the Companies Ordinance (CO) in the past year, such as:
* The recommendations for amendments to the provisions in the CO regarding accounting and auditing, directors' remuneration and directors' report, in the form of draft "drafting instructions", made by a joint working group involving representatives from the Government and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accounts (the Joint Working Group); and
* A review on whether "hybrid company names" (i.e., company names made up of Roman letters and Chinese characters, numbers or symbols) should be allowed.
"The amendments to the CO will be followed up in the context of the rewrite of the Ordinance," a government spokesman said.
"A Companies Bill Team comprising officers from the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Companies Registry was set up recently. We have started a comprehensive review of the CO with a view to producing a White Bill for public consultation in mid-2009 and introducing the new Companies Bill into the Legislative Council by the third quarter of 2010," the spokesman added.
"As part of our efforts to engage the public in the rewrite exercise before the White Bill consultation, we will launch a public consultation on proposals to amend the auditing and accounting provisions in the CO in the first quarter of 2007."
"Comments received from the public consultation will assist the Administration in taking a final view on the recommendations by the Joint Working Group," the spokesman said.
The SCCLR also discussed the consultation paper on legislative proposals to establish the Financial Reporting Council and the consultation paper on possible reforms to the prospectus regime.
"The SCCLR, as our principal advisor, provided valuable comments to the Government and the Securities and Futures Commission on various proposals relating to company law and securities law in the past year," the spokesman said.
"We will continue to rely heavily on the expertise and advice of its members, in particular, in the rewrite of the CO."
The SCCLR was formed in 1984 to advise the Financial Secretary on necessary amendments to the relevant legislation such as the CO, in order to ensure that such legislation continues to meet the needs of the business community.
The membership of the SCCLR is drawn from a wide spectrum of sectors, including lawyers, accountants, company secretaries, and representatives of Government departments and regulatory bodies.
The SCCLR's annual report is available to the public at the Companies Registry's website at http://www.cr.gov.hk.
Ends/Friday, November 17, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:31
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