Meetings and filing requirements Section 38, 39 and 40: Temporary extension of period for public company to file account and temporary power to extend periods for providing information to registrar
These sections make provision to extend the period within which companies must file certain information.
	Section 38 provides for a temporary extension to the period which a public company has to file accounts and reports with the registrar at Companies House. By way of example, if a public company’s accounting reference period ends on 1 December 2019 then under section 442 of the Companies Act 2006, the directors of the company must deliver to the registrar the company’s accounts and reports on or by 1 June 2020. This deadline of 1 June 2020 falls within the time period specified in subsection (1) and is therefore extended by subsection (2) until the 30 September 2020.
	Section 39 applies to Companies, European Economic Interest Groupings, Limited Liability Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Overseas Companies, Societas Europaea, Unregistered Companies and Scottish Qualifying Partnerships who are required to file certain documents, or in respect of whose assets an interested person wishes to register a charge with the registrar at Companies House ("the filings").
	Subsection (1) enables the Secretary of State to make regulations to extend the time period which a company or other entity has to provide the registrar with the filings. This is to recognise the difficulties which businesses may face in meeting the existing statutory deadlines due to the circumstances created by COVID-19.
	Subsection (2) contains the maximum time periods which may be substituted for the existing periods for the filings.
	Subsection (8) provides that the power to extend the time periods for the filings is time limited.
	Section 40 lists the provisions referred to in subsection (1) of section 39 and allows for certain deadlines to be extended. These deadlines include the periods for filing accounts and confirmation statements. They also include the time allowed to notify the registrar of certain relevant events that are covered by the confirmation statement, such as notifying the registrar of a change in director. In addition, the regulations may extend the deadline for registering a charge with Companies House.