16.On the day appointed under this section (“registration day”) CDC’s transformation to a plc will take place. The purposes of this section are, first, to provide a mechanism for ensuring that, before the Secretary of State makes the order appointing a day as registration day, all the documents required to be filed with the registrar have in fact been filed and are in order and, secondly, to allow CDC to prepare for the administrative consequences of registration. Consequently, the Secretary of State is not under a duty to name the appointed day until he has received notification from the registrar that he is satisfied that the documents are in order. If the registrar is not satisfied, the Secretary of State is able to restart the process on a later day by virtue of section 3 (4).
Commentary on Sections Registration under the Companies Act 1985 Section 3: Appointing day for registration