(1) A person shall not, at a particular time, be a director of more than 25 companies.
(2) In subsection (1), (but not any other subsection of this section) "director" includes a shadow director (within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1990).
(3) In reckoning, for the purposes of subsection (1), the number of companies of which the person concerned is a director at a particular time the following provisions shall apply -
(a) without prejudice to paragraph (b) or subsection (4), there shall not be included any of the following companies of which he or she is a director at that time, namely -
(i) a public limited company,
(ii) a public company (within the meaning of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983),
(iii) a company in respect of which a certificate under section 44(2) is in force,
(b) there shall not be included any company of which he or she is a director at that time (not being a time that is before the date of the giving of the certificate or direction referred to hereafter