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Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority
Public Consultation

Public Consultation on review of Business Registration Act Cap 32

Status

Closed

Topic

Corporate Law

30 November 2010

Access the archived public consultation paper on a review of the Business Registration Act.

Detailed description

  1. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) invites members of the public to provide feedback and suggestions as part of its review of the Business Registration (BR) Act (Cap. 32).

  2. The BR Act provides the basic framework to govern sole proprietors and partnerships in Singapore.  The current BR Act was enacted in 1974 when it replaced the Business Names Act.  Since then, there have been several piecemeal amendments, the last in 2009.  Through this comprehensive  review, ACRA aims to update the legislation to keep pace with Singapore’s continuing development as a major commercial and financial centre.  ACRA is also looking to further improve the registration process and to provide further clarity as to who needs to be registered, having regard to the present day business environment.

Scope of the Consultation Exercise

  1. Broadly, the consultation paper covers the following areas:

    • Definition of “business” (Q1);

    • Exemption from registration (Q2 to Q7);

    • Information applicants must provide ACRA (Q8 to Q11);

    • Duration of registration (Q12 to Q14);

    • Parameters to business names (Q15 to Q16);

    • Death of registrant – change of particulars (Q17);

    • Court’s and Registrar’s powers to amend register (Q18 to Q19);

    • Local managers (Q20 to Q25);

    • Ceasing business and restoring registration (Q26 to Q30);

    • Moratorium period before another person can apply for an identical defunct business name (Q31);

    • Consequences of carrying on business without registration or updating particulars (Q32 to Q33);

    • Appeals to the Minister (Q34);

    • Offences, penalties and composition of offences (Q35 to Q38); and

    • Converting registered business names to companies (Q39).

Guidelines

  1. To help facilitate a productive and focused consultation process, you are encouraged to:

    • Indicate your name and organisation (if any);

    • Focus on the questions for feedback; and

    • Give your comments clearly and concisely.

Please note that the feedback received may be made public unless confidentiality is specifically requested for all or part of the submission.

Period of consultation

  1. The consultation exercise ends on 30 November 2010.

Feedback channel

  1. Please send your feedback by e-mail to:  ACRA_BRConsult@acra.gov.sg. Please indicate ‘Public Consultation on Review of the Business Registration Act’ in the subject line.

Consultation document

  1. The document is available for download here [PDF, 349 KB] or on the REACH website: www.reach.gov.sg.

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