Companies Act 2014 section 865

Summary prosecutions

Section 865 sets out who has the power to bring summary prosecutions for offences under the Companies Act 2014, and identifies a specific list of offences that the Registrar of Companies may also prosecute.

• Summary proceedings for any offence under the Act may be brought by either the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or the Corporate Enforcement Authority.
• The Registrar of Companies may also prosecute a defined list of specific offences, mainly relating to filing defaults and notification failures where evidence is available from the Companies Registration Office's own records or from court orders.
• The Registrar's prosecution powers are deliberately limited to offences that do not require a wider investigation, since the CRO does not have an investigative function.
• Any offences that require more in-depth investigation beyond CRO records remain prosecutable by the DPP or the Corporate Enforcement Authority, but not by the Registrar.