Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009

We are debating today the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009. Limited liability partnerships were introduced by the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000. The main early users of the limited liability partnership form were major accountancy and law firms, and now all sizes and types of businesses are using it. The LLP Act is a relatively short Act that sets out the basic structure of the LLP and provides a power to fill it out as appropriate by applying to LLPs selected provisions of company law. The LLP Regulations 2001 applied major parts of the Companies Act 1985, with appropriate modifications, to LLPs along with bits of financial services and insolvency law. As the Companies Act 1985 has been comprehensively replaced by the Companies Act 2006, we need to update the regulations that apply company law provisions to LLPs. Last year, your Lordships debated the Limited Liability Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) Regulations, which applied to LLPs rules on accounts and audit corresponding to those under the Companies Act 2006. These take effect for financial years beginning on or after 1 October 2008. The current regulations complete that work by applying to LLPs the other relevant provisions of the Companies Act 2006, with modifications as necessary. They apply to the whole of the United Kingdom. If any noble Lord is familiar with the 2001 LLP regulations, he or she will have noticed that the current regulations are much longer. This is because the earlier regulations simply listed the section numbers of provisions in the Companies Acts that were to be applied with a list of textual modifications. The current regulations take the approach of writing out the provisions so that the regulations can be read as a stand-alone document without looking at the Companies Act. This approach received strong support when we consulted, particularly from practitioners in the field. Much of the update has simply meant applying to LLPs the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 that correspond to the provisions of the 1985 Act that were applied to LLPs. As set out in the Explanatory Memorandum, some of the new provisions of the 2006 Act are applied to LLPs, but others are not. Broadly, these decisions maintain the approach of applying to LLPs the rules that regulate a company's dealings with third parties and, in particular, the filing and transparency requirements, but not rules on the internal workings of companies. There is also a small number of changes that are not directly related to the Companies Act 2006. They include providing a new right for a member of an LLP, if he is the sole remaining member, to apply to have the LLP dissolved. In summary, these regulations will keep the law on LLPs up to date and consistent with current company law. I beg to move.