The Companies Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006, and is being introduced in a series of stages. The legislation will replace all existing Company Law, except for the provisions relating to company investigations and community interest companies (CICs).

The new Act applies to companies of any size and type, and has seen the introduction of some significant changes to the legislation. Many of the changes are beneficial and the government appears to have achieved its aim of simplifying the law for private companies.

For the first time, the Companies Act sets out legislation relating to duties and responsibilities of company directors.

The inclusion of the duties was supposed to be a confirmation of established case law. However, the new Act includes important reforms which affect all directors in every company.

This briefing provides a summary of the requirements introduced by the Act together with the consequences of non compliance. The final section provides some practical action points for all directors.