C16

Prospective affecting provision: subss. (3), (4), (5), (6) amended, subss. (5A), (7), (8) inserted by Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024 (44/2024), s. 8(a)-(f), not commenced as of date of revision.

50. ...

(3) Notice of any change in the situation of the registered office of a company F26[shall, subject to section 50A, be given] in the prescribed form, within 14 days after the date of the change, to the Registrar who shall record that change.

(4) F26[Subject to subsection (5A), a company’s] registered office may be constituted by a statement (contained in the statement or notice referred to in subsection (2) or (3)) to the effect that the office is care of a F26[specified registered office agent], being a company formed and registered under this Act, or an existing company, and which is approved for this purpose by the F26[Registrar under subsection (7)]; where a registered office is constituted by those means, references in this Act to the situation of the company’s registered office shall be read accordingly.

(5) The notification to the Registrar by the F26[registered office agent] of any change in the situation of the F26[registered office agent’s] registered office shall, if made in the form prescribed for the purpose of subsection (3) and within the period there mentioned, be regarded as constituting compliance by the company concerned with subsection (3).

F27[(5A) A registered office agent may deliver a notice in the prescribed form to the Registrar stating that the registered office of the company is no longer care of the registered office agent, and on receipt of any such notification, the Registrar shall notify the directors and the secretary of the company (in this section referred to as a “relevant notice”) that—

(a) a notification has been received from the registered office agent stating that the registered office of the company is no longer care of the registered office agent, and

(b) the company’s registered office may no longer be constituted by the statement referred to in subsection (4) unless the company delivers to the Registrar, within 14 days after the date of the relevant notice, a declaration in writing by the registered office agent that the company’s registered office is care of that registered office agent.

(5B) A relevant notice shall be delivered by ordinary prepaid post to the usual residential address, as recorded in the office of the Registrar, of the addressee concerned.]

(6) If default is made in complying with F26[subsection (1) or (3)], the company concerned and any officer of it who is in default shall be guilty of a category 4 offence.

F27[(7) (a) The Registrar may, on application made to him or her by a company in the prescribed form, approve the company to act as a registered office agent for the purposes of this section, and a company so approved shall be known, and is referred to in this Act, as a “registered office agent”

(b) Where an application under paragraph (a) is made by a trust or company service provider, the Registrar shall not grant approval under that paragraph unless the company is the holder of a relevant authorisation.

(c) The Registrar shall withdraw an approval granted under paragraph (a) where the company ceases to be the holder of a relevant authorisation.

(8) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), a company that, immediately before the coming into operation of subsection (7), stands approved by the Registrar for the purposes of subsection (4) shall be deemed to be approved by the Registrar under subsection (7) to act as a registered office agent for the purposes of this section.

(b) Paragraph (a) shall not apply to a company that is a trust or company service provider unless it is the holder of a relevant authorisation.]