Companies Act 2014 – New priority system for e-filing of a C1

By Andrew Lambe, 16th April 2015

The Companies Act 2014 will introduce a new two-way procedure in which a charge can be registered.

Priority of charges, as and from the commencement of the New Companies Act in June 2015, will be linked to the date of receipt by CRO of the particulars of the charge. After commencement, the date of creation of the deed of charge will no longer determine its priority. Under the new Act, there is no extra time to file a charge form. If the document is not received within the 21 days as required, the form is rejected. It appears that the CRO will, when the Companies Act 2014 is commenced, introduce the mandatory e-filing of charges. The reason for this is to avoid the potential issue whereby two charges are submitted on paper forms within a short time frame and may both be data captured. When a system is implemented whereby the charge must be e-filed, then the 2nd charge can be rejected automatically.

Currently the CRO offers e-filing as an option for filing of a C1 using CORE. This simplifies the completion and presentation of the C1. Registration is completed following receipt of the paper signature page. Adoption of this e-filing procedure now will ensure your familiarity with the process. This will be of great benefit to you in preparing for the new Priority regime.