2009 Iowa Code
Title 12 - Business Entities
Subtitle 2 - Business and Professional Corporations and Companies
CHAPTER 490 - BUSINESS CORPORATIONS
490.120 - FILING REQUIREMENTS.

        490.120  FILING REQUIREMENTS.
         1.  A document must satisfy the requirements of this section, and
      of any other section that adds to or varies these requirements, to be
      entitled to filing.
         2.  The document must be filed in the office of the secretary of
      state.
         3.  The document must contain the information required by this
      chapter.  It may contain other information as well.
         4.  The document must be typewritten or printed.  If the document
      is electronically transmitted, it must be in a format that can be
      retrieved or reproduced in typewritten or printed form.
         5.  The document must be in the English language.  A corporate
      name need not be in English if written in English letters or Arabic
      or Roman numerals, and the certificate of existence required of
      foreign corporations need not be in English if accompanied by a
      reasonably authenticated English translation.
         6.  Except as provided in section 490.1622, subsection 2, the
      document must be executed by one of the following methods:
         a.  The chairperson of the board of directors of a domestic or
      foreign corporation, its president, or another of its officers.
         b.  If directors have not been selected or the corporation has
      not been formed, by an incorporator.
         c.  If the corporation is in the hands of a receiver, trustee,
      or other court-appointed fiduciary, by that fiduciary.
         7.  The person executing the document shall sign it and state
      beneath or opposite the person's signature, the person's name and the
      capacity in which the person signs.  The document may, but need not,
      contain a corporate seal, attestation, acknowledgment, or
      verification.
         The secretary of state may accept for filing a document containing
      a copy of a signature, however made.
         8.  If the secretary of state has prescribed a mandatory form for
      the document under section 490.121, the document must be in or on the
      prescribed form.
         9.  The document must be delivered to the office of the secretary
      of state for filing.  Delivery may be made by electronic transmission
      if and to the extent permitted by the secretary of state.  If it is
      filed in typewritten or printed form and not transmitted
      electronically, the secretary of state may require one exact or
      conformed copy to be delivered with the document, except as provided
      in sections 490.503 and 490.1509.
         10.  When the document is delivered to the office of the secretary
      of state for filing, the correct filing fee, and any franchise tax,
      license fee, or penalty, shall be paid in a manner permitted by the
      secretary of state.
         11.  The secretary of state may adopt rules for the electronic
      filing of documents and the certification of electronically filed
      documents.
         12.  Whenever a provision of this chapter permits any of the terms
      of a plan or a filed document to be dependent on facts objectively
      ascertainable outside of the plan or filed document, all of the
      following provisions apply:
         a.  The manner in which the facts will operate upon the terms
      of the plan or filed document shall be set forth in the plan or filed
      document.
         b.  The facts may include, but are not limited to any of the
      following:
         (1)  Any of the following that is available in a nationally
      recognized news or information medium either in print or
      electronically:  statistical or market indices, market prices of any
      security or group of securities, interest rates, currency exchange
      rates, or similar economic or financial data.
         (2)  A determination or action by any person or body, including
      the corporation or any other party to a plan or filed document.
         (3)  The terms of, or actions taken under, an agreement to which
      the corporation is a party, or any other agreement or document.
         c.  As used in this subsection:
         (1)  "Filed document" means a document filed with the
      secretary of state under any provision of this chapter except
      division XV or section 490.1622.
         (2)  "Plan" means a plan of merger or share exchange.
         d.  The following provisions of a plan or filed document may
      not be made dependent on facts outside the plan or filed document:
         (1)  The name and address of any person required in a filed
      document.
         (2)  The registered office of any entity required in a filed
      document.
         (3)  The registered agent of any entity required in a filed
      document.
         (4)  The number of authorized shares and designation of each class
      or series of shares.
         (5)  The effective date of a filed document.
         (6)  Any required statement in a filed document of the date on
      which the underlying transaction was approved or the manner in which
      that approval was given.
         e.  If a provision of a filed document is made dependent on a
      fact ascertainable outside of the filed document, and that fact is
      not ascertainable by reference to a source described in paragraph
      "b", subparagraph (1), or a document that is a matter of public
      record, or the affected shareholders have not received notice of the
      fact from the corporation, then the corporation shall file with the
      secretary of state articles of amendment setting forth the fact
      promptly after the time when the fact referred to is first
      ascertainable or thereafter changes.  Articles of amendment under
      this paragraph are deemed to be authorized by the authorization of
      the original filed document to which they relate and may be filed by
      the corporation without further action by the board of directors or
      the shareholders.  

         89 Acts, ch 288, §3; 90 Acts, ch 1205, §16; 2002 Acts, ch 1154,
      §1, 2, 125; 2007 Acts, ch 140, §1
         Referred to in § 490.125, 490.140, 490.202, 490.601, 490.1006,
      490.1102, 490.1103, 490.1601, 490.1622