Articles of Association (law)
Encyclopedia : A : AR : ART : Articles of Association (law)
Articles of Association are a requirement for the establishment of a company under United Kingdom and in most other countries' company law.
In the United Kingdom the main purpose of the Articles of Association are to state the rules and regulations of how the directors should run the company and will cover such things as the issue of shares (also called stock), whether different shares carry different voting and dividend rights, any restrictions on transfer of shares, how often the directors are supposed to meet, period of notice required for notice of meetings, including Annual General Meetings (when the appointment and removal of directors and approval of accounts are voted on), the calling of extraordinary and special meetings, in other words basic and fundamental details of the company; i.e. name, purpose, directors and allocation of stock.
In the United Kingdom, there are draft regulations for the running of a company, known as Table A, published as a statutory instrument in 1985. Nearly all Articles of Association are derived from this document. Table A is designed for use by a Public Limited Company, but amendments within the Companies Acts are permissible. Private Companies usually take advantage of some or all the lesser requirements required of a private limited company by shares.
Copies of UK legislation are available from the Office of Public Sector Information. Legislation passed since 1987 is also available online.
As of early 2006, there is a Bill going through Parliament which will alter the Companies Act with a new consolidation Companies Act and may include far reaching changes.
External Links
- [The Office of Public Sector Information]
- [Companies House] (for England, Wales and Scotland)
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.