Company Law Reform Bill

moved Amendment No. 185:"Page 73, line 38, leave out subsection (5)." The noble and learned Lord said: Grouped with Amendment No. 185 is Clause 722 stand part and government Amendments Nos. 353 and 355 to 357. The electronic communication provisions will not only produce some of the most significant cost savings of the Bill, but enable companies and their shareholders to reap the great benefits of improved delivery of and access to information, as well as easier decision-making processes. The objective of the government amendments is to simplify the existing drafting by inserting a single, general provision covering the meaning of the terms ““hard copy””, ““electronic communications”” and related expressions wherever they appear in the Companies Acts. So Amendments Nos. 185, 353 and the removal of Clause 722 will remove separate provisions about the terms ““hard copy”” and ““electronic form”” and related expressions in Clauses 167, 722 and 751. The new general provision is inserted by Amendment No. 355. Amendments Nos. 356 and 357 are consequential changes to the index of defined expressions in Schedule 9. I beg to move.