Companies Budget Amendment Bill 2019 passed in parliament

The Companies Budget Amendment Bill 2019 has been passed in parliament.

The bill seeks to amend the Companies Act 2015 to provide that business names are registered for a period of time and such registrations must be periodically renewed to ensure that the information held with the Registrar is up to date; and provide for the reregistration of companies and business names.

The bill also amends the Act to make it clear that documents may be lodged and signed electronically under the Act paving the way for the digitisation of the records held with the Registrar.

The bill amends the Act to require business name registrations to be renewed. Currently, once a business name is registered, the business name holder is not required to renew the registration.

While it is a requirement of the Act to notify the Registrar that a business name is no longer being used, many business owners do not notify the Registrar that they have ceased the use of their business name. This means that the register of business names kept by the Registrar is outdated.

If details of a company or business name are not reregistered, the company or business name will be deregistered and removed from the relevant register.

The bill says that the benefit of the reregistration process is that the information held with the Registrar will be updated. This will enable increased reliance on the information in the registers kept by the Registrar and on the online platform.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says in 2017, the Fijian Government partnered with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) to undertake a digital government transformation initiative, now known as digitalFIJI, to bring the government’s services online and to ultimately enable the government to provide all Fijians with convenient 24/7 access to its services.

Currently, the Office of the Registrar of Companies records information in relation to companies, including foreign companies and business names in physical paper files. Over the years, some of the information in these files has been defaced, vandalised and pilfered.

Some company and business owners have also failed to update the Registrar when changes occur to the information held with the Registrar.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the integrity of the information held with the Registrar is uncertain.

Under digitalFIJI, SCE and the Ministry of Justice completed a review of the processes of the Registrar with a view to remove redundant and non‑value adding processes and to instead outline streamlined and optimal processes that can be carried out online.

The government launched an online platform for the registration of companies and business names on the 14th of this month.

The Minister for Economy says with the launch of the online platform, it is imperative that the data held with the Registrar in relation to companies and business names is correct. This will enable online searches to be conducted of the information held with the Registrar, which will be more convenient for companies and businesses in Fiji.

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