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1. |
This Act
may be cited as the International Business Companies Act, 1984. |
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2. |
(1) |
In this
Act |
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"Articles"
means the Articles of Association of a company incorporated under this Act; |
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"authorized capital" of a company means the sum of the aggregate par value
of all shares with par value which the company is authorized by its
Memorandum to issue plus the amount, if any, stated in its Memorandum as
authorized capital to be represented by shares without par value which the
company is authorized by its Memorandum to issue; |
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“bearer share” means a share represented by a certificate which states
that the bearer of the certificate is the owner of the share; |
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"capital"
of a company means the sum of the aggregate par value of all outstanding
shares with par value of the company and shares with par value held by the
company as treasury shares plus |
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(a) |
the
aggregate of the amounts designated as capital of all outstanding shares
without par value of the company and shares without par value held by the
company as treasury shares, and |
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(b) |
the
amounts as are from time to time transferred from surplus to capital by a
resolution of directors; |
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"Companies
Act" means the Companies Act of the British Virgin Islands; |
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"continued" means continued within the context of Part VIII; |
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"court"
means the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof; |
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“custodian” has the meaning specified in section 37B; |
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“effective
date” means the date on which the International Business Companies
(Amendment) Act, 2003 comes into effect; |
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"licence
fee payment date" means the date on which the company licence fee is paid
pursuant to the provisions of section 105; |
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"licence
fee final payment date" means 30th April or 31st October in any year; |
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"member"
means a person who holds shares in a company; |
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“Memorandum" means the Memorandum of Association of a company
incorporated under this Act; |
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"person"
includes a trust, the estate of a deceased individual, a partnership, or an
unincorporated association of persons; |
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"person
resident in the British Virgin Islands" means a person who ordinarily
resides within the British Virgin Islands or carries on business from an
office or other fixed place of business within the British Virgin Islands
but does not include a company incorporated under this Act; |
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"Register"
means the Register of International Business Companies maintained by the
Registrar in accordance with subsection (1) of section 14; |
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"registered agent" means the person who is at any particular time performing
the functions of registered agent of a company incorporated under this Act
pursuant to subsection (1) of section 39; |
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"Registrar" means the Registrar of Companies appointed under the Companies
Act and includes any other officer so appointed who acts, under the
delegated authority of the Registrar pursuant to, section 207(6) of the
Companies Act; |
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"securities" means shares and debt obligations of every kind, and options,
warrants and rights to acquire shares or debt obligations; |
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"surplus"
in relation to a company, means the excess, if any, at the time of the
determination, of the total assets of the company over the sum of its total
liabilities, as shown in the books of account, plus its capital; |
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“transition date” means 31st December, 2004; |
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"treasury
shares" means shares of a company that were previously issued but were
repurchased, redeemed or otherwise acquired by the company and not cancelled |
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(2) |
A
reference to money in this Act is a reference to the currency of the United
States of America. |
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(3) |
A company
that is incorporated under the Companies Act or under the laws of a
jurisdiction outside the British Virgin Islands shall be a company
incorporated under this Act if it is continued as a company incorporated
under this Act in accordance with Part VIII and references in this Act to a
"company incorporated under this Act" shall be construed accordingly. |
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(4) |
A
reference in this Act to voting in relation to shares shall be construed as
a reference to voting by members holding the shares except that it is the
votes allocated to the shares that shall be counted and not the number of
members who actually voted and a reference to shares being present at a
meeting shall be given a corresponding construction. |
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(5) |
Unless
otherwise defined in the Articles of a company incorporated under this Act,
the expression "resolution of directors" means |
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(a) |
a
resolution approved at a duly constituted meeting of directors or of a
committee of directors of a company, by affirmative vote of a simple
majority or such larger majority as may be specified in the Articles, of the
directors present at the meeting who voted and did not abstain; or |
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(b) |
a
resolution consented to in writing by an absolute majority, or such larger
majority as may be specified in the Articles, of all the directors or of all
the members of the committee, as the case may be; |
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but, where a director is given more than one vote in any circumstances, he
shall in the circumstances be counted for the purposes of establishing
majorities by the number of votes he casts. |
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(6) |
Unless
otherwise defined in the Articles of a company incorporated under this Act,
the expression "resolution of members" means |
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(a) |
a
resolution approved at a duly constituted meeting of the members of a
company by the affirmative vote of |
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(i) |
a simple
majority, or such larger majority as may be specified in the Articles, of
the votes of the shares that were present at the meeting and entitled to
vote thereon and were voted and did not abstain, or |
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(ii) |
a simple
majority, or such larger majority as may be specified in the Articles of the
votes of each class or series of shares which were present at the meeting
and entitled to vote thereon as a class or series and were voted and not
abstained and of a simple majority, or such larger majority as may be
specified in the Articles, of the votes of the remaining shares entitled to
vote thereon that were present at the meeting and were voted and not
abstained; or |