New regulations that give companies greater freedom over what to call themselves have come into force – including permission to use a greater variety of typographical symbols.
The government has adopted a more liberal approach in order to provide greater flexibility on the types of names that can be registered with Companies House and to reduce the burden of red tape on businesses.
The main changes include the relaxation of trading disclosure requirements on the display of company names. Previously, the name of a company was required to be displayed continuously in an easy-to-see place at the firm’s registered office or its alternative inspection location and at each of its places of business.
However, under the new regulations, if there are more than five sharing the same site, only a list of the names need be made available to visitors for inspection.
In addition, the government has reduced the list of sensitive words and expressions that requires prior approval, such as ‘national’, ‘European’, ‘group’, ‘holding’, ‘international’ and ‘United Kingdom’.
Furthermore, a proposed company cannot choose a name which is considered the ‘same as’ another. Under the new regulations, a list of words, including ‘imports’ and ‘exports’ will be disregarded when determining whether two names are considered to be the same as each other.
The new regulations came into force at the end of January.
A spokesman for Companies House said: “The changes being made dovetail with the government’s overall challenge to reduce the administrative burden faced by companies and the public in general.”
Adviser view
Carl Melvin, director at Affluent Financial Planning, based in Paisley, said: “These new rules will probably be of great significance to businesses in the arts and IT sector. I find it difficult to imagine an adviser firm sticking a hashtag at the beginning of their company name.
