Abolition of Directors' age limit

From 6 April 2007, section 293 of the Companies Act 1985, setting the age limit for directors of public companies and subsidiaries of public companies at 70 years will be repealed.  Companies subject to this section may wish to check their Articles and take steps to deal with the change.

2 April 2007

From 6 April 2007, section 293 of the Companies Act 1985, setting the age limit for directors of public companies and subsidiaries of public companies at 70 years will be repealed.  Companies subject to this section may wish to check their Articles and take steps to deal with the change.

When a company's Articles are silent on the matter of directors' age limits, it may be appropriate to simply remain silent.  However, where there are provisions in the Articles on directors' retirement age, the options would be for the company to retain the age limit, delete it, or explicitly state that no age limit will apply.