(1)A company's register of members must be kept available for inspection—
(a)at its registered office, or
(b)at a place specified in regulations under section 1136.
[F110 This is subject to any restriction imposed by regulations under section 120A (protected material).F110]
(2)A company must give notice to the registrar of the place where its register of members is kept available for inspection and of any change in that place.
(3)No such notice is required if the register has, at all times since it came into existence (or, in the case of a register in existence on the relevant date, at all times since then) been kept available for inspection at the company's registered office.
(4)The relevant date for the purposes of subsection (3) is—
(a)1st July 1948 in the case of a company registered in Great Britain, and
(b)1st April 1961 in the case of a company registered in Northern Ireland.
(5)If a company makes default for 14 days in complying with subsection (2), an offence is committed by—
(a)the company, and
(b)every officer of the company who is in default.
(6)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale and, for continued contravention, a daily default fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 3 on the standard scale.
241.This section replaces section 353 of the 1985 Act. Currently, the register of members is required to be kept at the registered office of the company, except that if the company has appointed a third party to maintain or update the register, it may be kept at the office where that work is done, subject to that office being in the jurisdiction where the company is registered. Under the Act, it is immaterial where the work of compiling or updating the register is carried out. Subsection (1) provides that the register must be kept available for inspection either at the company’s registered office or at a place permitted under regulations made under section 1136.