THE Business Law Reform Committee of Experts (BLRCE) of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department has proposed the establishment of a comprehensive revised Companies Act to effectively help regulate the activities of both profit and non-profit making companies in the business environment.
It has also advocated the abolition of the practice where certificates of commencement of business are issued to businesses regardless of whether they have completed certain requirements.
It further recommended the repeal of the minimum capital requirements of the current Companies Act.
The Chairman of the BLRCE, Mr Justice Samuel Date-Bah, made the suggestions during the second consultative stakeholders conference in Tamale on the review of the Companies Act 179 of 1963.
It was aimed, among other objectives, to collate views from stakeholders on the review of the act to ultimately help improve transactions in the business environment.
Legal brains in Northern Ghana drawn from the Attorney General’s Department and the secretariat of the Business Law Reform Committee of Experts attended the conference.
It was organised by the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department.
The activities of the committee of experts are within the framework of the Business Law Reform Programme of the Ministry of Justice.
The programme was being implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and the President’s Special Initiatives.
Mr Justice Date-Bah further recommended the “retention of the distinction between public and private companies”.
He explained that the suffix for a public company limited by shares should be Plc, while that for all other companies limited by shares should be Ltd.
Additionally, companies limited by guarantee which to date had not been obliged to have a suffix should now use Lbg.
“A new concept which the committee considers should be introduced into our companies legislation is that of the minority buy-out that is intended to strengthen the position of minority shareholders by giving them the right to demand compulsory purchase of their shares by the company”, the chairman further stated.
Mr Justice Date-Bah observed that “company law provides an important legal framework for the channelling of private enterprise and entrepreneurship for productive purposes”.
According to him, in spite of the forward-looking nature of many provisions of the Companies Act 1963, the time was ripe for a review after almost half a century of its existence.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, asked the participants to fashion out laws that would stand the test of time.
“I am in no doubt that with such legal brains we would be able to make useful inputs into reviewing the Companies Act; the horizon looks very bright for us”, the minister stated.
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