Irish Region
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Will you be in breach of the Companies Act if Britain crashes out of the EU on 29th March without a deal?
In the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal, thousands of Irish registered companies, who rely on a UK based director to fulfil this requirement will be in breach of the Law as the UK will no longer be a member of the EEA. The UK based director could also be liable for fines and penalties if they fail to notify the Companies Registration Office that they are no longer the EEA director.
The Government recently published the General Scheme of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019 as part of their preparations for a no deal Brexit. It makes no mention of the issue of UK based directors.
The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation need to put a mechanism in place that will allow such Irish registered companies to address this issue within a reasonable timeframe if there is a no-deal exit for Britain on March 29th.
John Burns
Business Development Manager, ICSA Ireland Region.
