What’s in a name?
Are you displaying your company’s name properly?
Stricter rules on the display of company names came into force on 1 October 2008. Your company’s name must appear at its registered office, at all places where it carries on business, and at any place where it keeps records available for inspection under the Companies Act. Visitors must be able to see the display clearly and read it with the naked eye. In the case of electronic signs, the company name must be displayed continuously, or if six or more companies share the premises, the name of each company must appear for at least 15 continuous seconds every three minutes.
There are two exceptions:
You do not have to display names of companies that have been dormant since incorporation; and
A company need not display its name at a place of business that is primarily living accommodation, for example a director’s home.
The latest regulations also reiterate the rules for the display of company information in communications. The company’s registered name must appear on:
Business letters, notices, forms and orders.
Company cheques.
Bills, invoices and other financial documents.
All other forms of business correspondence and documentation, including emails.
Company websites.
Business letters, order forms and websites must also show where in the UK the company is registered and its registered office address and number. Investment companies must state that they are investment companies. Directors’ names need not be shown, but if they appear other than only as a signatory to a letter, all the directors must be listed.
Provided there is no risk of confusion, minor variations in the company name, such as punctuation and accents, are now allowed.
Companies can no longer have only corporate directors. There must now be at least one individual, though companies that had only corporate directors on 8 November 2006 have until October 2010 to comply. Directors must now be at least 16 years old.
There are also new opportunities for people to object to a company name. You can complain to the new Company Names Tribunal if you think a company has been registered with the aim of extracting money from you or to prevent you from registering a particular name.