Companies House is now running stronger checks on company names which may give a false or misleading impression to the public.
It believes these checks will help it improve the accuracy and quality of the data it holds and help reduce the misuse of company names.
Under new powers it can directly challenge and even change company names.
Companies House says it can new reject an application to register a name where it has reason to believe:
- The name is intended to facilitate fraud.
- the name is comprised of or contains a computer code.
- The name is likely to give the false impression the company is connected to a foreign government or an international organisation whose members include two or more countries or territories (or their governments).
Companies House can also direct companies to change their name. If a company fails to change its name within 28 days, it can now determine a new name for the company, for example, changing the company name to its registered company number.
Companies House can also suppress a name from the register while a company responds to a direction to change its name.
If a company does not respond to a direction to change their company name within 28 days, an offence is committed.
It’s also an offence to continue using a company name which we have directed to change.
- These changes were introduced as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.
