Company law · Free compliance libraries
Company laws for every country. Select yours.
Twenty-eight libraries are live and free.
Every country has its own company law. ComplianceSME is building a free library for each. The United Kingdom's Companies Act 2006 library is live below. Twenty-seven European Union member state libraries are live beside it, each in its own language: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Twenty-seven EU country libraries are live and free.
How to get the free systemUnited Kingdom, Companies Act 2006
Every UK company is bound by the Companies Act 2006. The ComplianceSME system for it is free.
Find the situation you are in below. Open its section. Download the free tool that produces your compliance documentation, use it, and get back to work. This library is arranged by what happens in real life, not by the order of the statute, so you go straight to the tool you need.
Find your situation
The annual spine
Every company does these every year. Miss a filing deadline and the penalty is automatic, so this is where most companies get caught out.
Your confirmation statement is due
At least one every twelve months, filed within fourteen days of the review period ending. The online fee is £34. It must be filed even when nothing has changed.
Open the section → Annual accountsYour annual accounts are due
Nine months after your accounting reference date for a private company. Your first accounts are due twenty-one months after incorporation.
Open the section → Registers and recordsRegisters, office and email current
Keep the register of members, the registered office and the registered email address correct and up to date all year round.
Open the section →When something changes
These happen when an event happens. Most carry a fourteen-day or one-month deadline. Run only the section that matches your event.
A director is joining or leaving
You have fourteen days to tell Companies House when a director is appointed, resigns, or has their details changed.
Open the section → SharesIssuing or transferring shares
New shares allotted are filed within one month. Transfers of existing shares are recorded in the register of members, not filed at the time.
Open the section → People with significant controlA PSC changes
Fourteen days to update your PSC register, then fourteen days to notify Companies House. Failing to do so is a criminal offence.
Open the section → Registered officeMoving your registered office
File the change within fourteen days. The move takes effect when Companies House registers it.
Open the section → Company nameChanging your company name
Passed by the members and filed with Companies House. The new name takes effect on registration. The online fee is £20.
Open the section → DividendsPaying a dividend
There is no Companies House filing, but the money must come out of profits and the record-keeping duty sits under Part 23.
Open the section → AuditorAppointing or removing an auditor
Whether you need a statutory audit, and how you appoint or remove an auditor, is governed by the Companies Act 2006.
Open the section →Rarely, but covered
Some company-law events fire once in a decade or never for a typical private company. The system covers them and stays dormant until the event occurs.
Beyond the United Kingdom
Company law is national. Every European Union country writes its own. ComplianceSME publishes a free library for each. Ten are live now.
Get the free system
Free · Companies Act 2006 only
The Companies Act 2006 compliance system is free to download. The download needs a free ComplianceSME account, so the files land in your library and so update files can reach you when the law changes.
The system is delivered section by section. Your first download is the starter pack: the printed guide, the training file, the reference file, and File 1, which builds your Entity Passport. After that you download one section at a time, when you reach the situation it covers. Each situation page in this library names the section that covers it.
The system runs inside your own Claude account and requires the Claude Max plan (approximately £90 per month, paid directly to Anthropic) to operate. You upload the files, type START, and the system interviews you one question at a time, then produces your documentation with the section citations.
Membership keeps the system current. When the Companies Act 2006 changes, an update file arrives in your account, so you never work from a stale version.
Open a free accountThe Companies Act 2006 is one instrument. Every other regulation that binds your business has its own system in the full register. See all systems in the register →