HC Deb 26 October 1989 vol 158 cc1158-9

396.—(1) The charges requiring registration under this Part are—

(a) a charge on land or any interest in land, other than—

  1. (i) in England and Wales, a charge for rent or any other periodical sum issuing out of the land,
  2. (ii) in Scotland, a charge for any rent, ground annual or other periodical sum payable in respect of the land;

(b) a charge on goods or any interest on goods, other than a charge under which the chargee is entitled to possession either of the goods or of a document of title to them,

(c) a charge on intangible movable property (in Scotland, incorporeal moveable property) of any of the following descriptions—

  1. (i) goodwill,
  2. (ii) intellectual property,
  3. (iii) book debts (whether book debts of the company or assigned to the company),
  4. (iv) uncalled share capital of the company or calls made but not paid,

(d) a charge for securing an issue of debentures, or

(e) a floating charge on the whole or part of the company property.

(2) The descriptions of charge mentioned in subsection (1) shall be construed as follows—

  1. (a) a charge on a debenture forming part of an issue or series shall not be treated as falling within paragraph (a) or (b) by reason of the fact that the debenture is secured by a charge on land or goods (or on an interest in land or goods);
  2. (b) in paragraph (b) "goods" means any tangibie movable property (in Scotland, corporeal moveable property) other than money;
  3. (c) a charge is not excluded from paragraph (b) because the chargee is entitled to take possession in case of default or on the occurrence of some other event;
  4. (d) in paragraph (c)(ii) "intellectual property" means—
    1. (i) any patent, trade mark, service mark, registered design, copyright or design right, or
    2. (ii) any licence under or in respect of any such right;
  5. (e) a debenture which is part of an issue or series shall not be treated as a book debt for the purposes of paragraph (c)(iii);
  6. (f) the deposit by way of security of a negotiable instrument given to secure the payment of book debts shall not be treated for the purposes of paragraph (c)(iii) as a charge on book debts;
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  7. (g) a shipowner's lien on subfreights shall not be treated as a charge on book debts for the purposes of paragraph (c)(iii) or as a floating charge for the purposes of paragraph (e).

(3) Whether a charge is one requiring registration under this Part shall be determined—

  1. (a) in the case of a charge created by a company, as at the date the charge is created, and
  2. (b) in the case of a charge over property acquired by a company, as at the date of the acquisition.

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend subsections (1) and (2) so as to add any description of charge to, or remove any description of charge from, the charges requiring registration under this Part.

(5) Regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(6) In the following provisions of this Part references to a charge are, unless the context otherwise requires, to a charge requiring registration under this Part.

Where a charge not otherwise requiring registration relates to property by virtue of which it requires to be registered and to other property, the references are to the charge so far as it relates to property of the former description.".'.—[Mr. Forth.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this it will be convenient to discuss Government new clause 21—The companies charges register.

9.45 pm
Mr. Forth

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

New clause 20 would replace clause 89 in the Bill. It contains a number of amendments to clauses 395 and 396. The amendments mostly make some technical but important alterations to terms and provisions that determine whether a charge is registrable. The broad aim is to ensure that we do not require registration if it will cause undue damage to commercial practice. New clause 21 would replace clause 90 of the Bill. It contains amendments to new section 397 but inserts no new provisions. The amendments simply omit an illustrative list and a provisional notice that is replaced by a new provision in clause 30.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.

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