Written answers
Tuesday, 4 April 2006
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Company Law
9:00 pm
Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 322: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if it is an offence for persons to represent themselves as trading as a limited company in circumstances whereby no company is registered or incorporated under the Companies Acts; the penalties attaching; the prosecuting authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter [13405/06]
Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Under section 381 (1) of the Companies Act 1963, as substituted by section 98 of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001, it is an offence for any person or persons to trade or carry on business under a name or title which includes the word "limited" or "teoranta" as the last word of the name unless incorporated with limited liability. Such person or persons shall be guilty of an offence under that provision. The Director of Corporate Enforcement can take the prosecution for such an offence on a summary basis and the Director of Public Prosecutions on indictment. The penalties are listed in section 240 of the Companies Act 1990, as amended by section 41 of the Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1999 and sections 14 and 104 of the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001. A person or persons can be fined up to â¬1,904.61 on summary conviction and up to â¬12,697.38 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, on conviction on indictment. In addition, an order of the court may provide that all costs of, and incidental to, the application shall be borne by the person or persons against whom the order is made.
The Director of Corporate Enforcement has a number of such cases on hand but no prosecutions have been taken before the courts to date.
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