Company law links

UK government sites

Companies House
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk
A very useful site providing free information about all UK registered companies and the ability to order further information on-line with payment by credit card. It also offers a forms download facility and other information about Companies House operations, company law, etc. The guidance booklets and FAQs have a wealth of useful information.

BERR (formerly the DTI)
http://www.berr.gov.uk
(Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) A major source of information about company law reform proposals. Information about the BERR and its activities, including consultation documents on company law reform, etc. There is some useful information on the Companies Act 2006 and its implementation, but use this link because the pages are difficult to find.

Intellectual Property Office (formerly Patent and Trade Mark Office)
www.ipo.gov.uk
Now an extremely useful site on trade marks (as well as patents), including a free on-line trade mark search facility, and a great deal of information on trade mark law and practice.

Inland Revenue
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk
Information about taxes and procedures for corporate and individual tax returns, etc., including access to published Inland Revenue leaflets. A variable standard of information. Some featured areas are good, but in other areas the information provided is disappointing, being terse and without easy explanation. Now combined with the Customs and Excise website.

Insolvency Service
www.insolvency.gov.uk
A very useful site on corporate insolvency and personal bankruptcy. A wide range of guidance material and published leaflets available to download. Also insolvency forms, addresses, effect of Civil Procedure rules on insolvency processes, useful FAQs and information about insolvency legislation. Some irritating display features.

VAT (HM Customs and Excise)
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/
For VAT information, click here. Detailed and useful information on VAT. Now combined with the Inland Revenue website.

Office of Public Sector Information
www.opsi.gov.uk
(Formerly HMSO). Publishes on the internet all legislation since 1988. The current main legislation, the Companies Act 1985 is not available (though the amending Act, the Companies Act 1989 is). All statutory instruments since 1987 are available, as is the new Act, the Companies Act 2006 (which not be fully in force until October 2008). The direct link to UK legislation is http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/about_legislation.htm

Law Commission
www.lawcom.gov.uk
The Law Commission's task is to review areas of law and report. For its report on company security interests go to http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/company_security.htm.

Financial Services Authority
www.fsa.gov.uk
The FSA is the regulatory body for all financial services.

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Other UK sites

The British and Irish Legal Information Institute
www.bailii.org (BAILII) provides access to the most comprehensive free and up-to-date collection of British and Irish primary legal materials on the Internet. An excellent source of legislation and caselaw.

Intute: Social Science
http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/law/
Guidance and access to legal information resources on the Internet. Wide range of links to all sorts of other lawrelated websites..

Delia Venables
www.venables.co.uk
Delia Venables was a pioneer in providing on-line information about on-line legal information, and her site is excellent for finding links.

Pension Investment Research Consultants
www.pirc.co.uk
Interesting site on corporate governance issues. Gives good links to other corporate governance sites.

Stock Exchange
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/
Information on the operations of the Stock Exchange, companies listed on it, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), market statistics, news, etc.

NASDAQ
www.nasdaq.co.uk
Details of UK operations of the US based share trading service

Federation of Small Businesses
www.fsb.org.uk
Pressure group for small businesses. Some useful comment on regulatory and tax issues.

Lawlinks
http://www.kent.ac.uk/lawlinks/
Useful site for law students.

Legal Technology Online
www.legaltechnology.org
A general law website, good for links to other sites

ICC
www.icclaw.com
Mostly news about lawyers and law firms, but an excellent company law updating service athttp://www.icclaw.com/devs/uk/frame/uk_fr.htm

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European sites

Europa - the main EU website
http://europa.eu/index.htm
Includes texts of the treaties, regulations, directives, ECJ cases, etc.

Council of the European Union
http://ue.eu.int/cms3_fo/index.htm
Press releases, events, etc of the EU Commission.

European Corporate Governance Institute
http://www.ecgi.org/
Useful European corporate governance site

Gibraltar
www.gibraltar.gi/finance
Details of Gibraltar companies, registration, etc.

France (in French)
www.inpi.fr
Detailed company registration information

Italy (in Italian)
http://www.infocamere.it/
Primarily a list of company information providers, though it does give the addresses of the various companies registries in Italy, and the information and documents available there.

Switzerland
www.zefix.admin.ch
Information on Swiss companies, available in English.

Eire Companies Registration Office
www.cro.ie
Details of company formation requirements, companies legislation, forms download, etc.

Jersey
www.jerseyfsc.org
The Guidance Notes section gives quite detailed information on Jersey companies.

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International sites

The Australasian Legal Information Institute
www.austlii.edu.au
Provides free access to Australian and New Zealand legal materials. AustLII publishes public legal information, that is, primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (e.g. law reform and royal commission reports) An excellent site.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission
www.asic.gov.au
Excellent site. News on company law developments in Australia. Details of company registration procedures and costs. Company name database with search facility. Interesting section on electronic filing.

Ministry of Company Affairs Government of India
http://www.mca.gov.in/
A comprehensive site giving Companies Registry annual reports, etc. details of the State companies registries, but also considerable detail on companies legislation in India including the Companies (Amendment) Act 1999 and current reform proposals.

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan
www.secp.gov.pk

Hong Kong (Peoples Republic of China)
http://www.business.gov.hk/bep/opencms/release/eng/index.html
Quite good information on company law and registration.

Transnational Law Digest and Bibliography

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USA

The Corporate Library (USA)
www.thecorporatelibrary.com

Cleveland University Law Library (USA)
www.clelaw.lib.oh.us

Cornell Law Library (USA)
www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html

Berkeley Law Library (USA)
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/
The Corporate Library is a central repository for research, study and critical thinking about the nature of the modern global corporation, with a special focus on corporate governance and the relationship between company management, their boards and their shareowners.

Delaware
http://www.state.de.us/corp/
Good site about registration and law on Delaware corporations.

New York
www.dos.state.ny.us/corp/corpwww.html
Detailed information on legal questions, filing information, etc for New York registered companies.

New York Stock Exchange
www.nyse.com
Detailed site on operations of the New York Stock Exchange

Corporate Governance (USA)
www.corpgov.net
Useful USA site on corporate governance issues