Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

Noble Lords may indeed ask why we have provided separate schedules for ““traded companies”” and ““companies other than traded companies””. These are new terms, while the Companies Acts more often refer to ““quoted”” or ““unquoted”” companies. This is due to the need to implement the EU transparency directive, which requires companies whose equities or debt securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market to pass separate resolutions permitting the company both to send documents in electronic form as well as email and to use website publication. This category of companies is slightly different from those companies included in the category of ““quoted”” companies as defined in the Companies Acts. That is why we have used different terminology. I shall expand briefly on the difference. Traded companies are a broader category than quoted companies because they refer to companies whose equities or debt securities are traded on a regulated market which includes second-tier markets in member states of the EU as well as markets like the London Stock Exchange. Quoted companies, as defined in Clause 358, are those whose equity share capital has been officially listed in an EEA state or is admitted to dealing on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. With that clarification, I hope that the noble Lord will agree to withdraw his amendment.