Registrar-General introduces reforms in business registration under Act 992

Jemima Oware, the Registrar-General says the new Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) gives new processes and procedures of registering a company in Ghana.

According to her, this will promote efforts by the government of Ghana in improving the ease of doing business in Ghana.

In a statement to GhanaWeb, the Registrar General hinted that, with Act 992, “there would be no need to fill a Form 4 and the Regulations for the incorporation of a company...The new Prescribed Forms uploaded on the website encompasses every detail that would have been filled in the previous Forms for the six types of Companies.”

“Another change that has been introduced with the implementation of Act 992 is that persons who are registering any of the six (6) types of companies -Private Companies Limited by shares, Private Companies unlimited by shares, a Public Company Limited by shares, a Public Company unlimited by shares, a Private Company limited by Guarantee and a Public Company Limited by Guarantee- would have had to fill Regulations for all these types of companies.

“Now we have made it easier, we have Constitutions to replace Regulations for all Companies. One can just adopt Schedules 2, 3 or 4 of Act 992 which represents the Constitution for a Private Company Limited by Shares, a Public Company Limited by Shares and a Private Company Limited by Guarantee respectively. All of these Schedules are available on the website as your Constitutions to be adopted together with the different Prescribed Forms for the different types of Companies,” Jemima Oware stated.

The Registrar General, however, explained the E-Registrar software application has finally been upgraded in accordance with the new Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992).

Commencing from September 28, 2020, members of the business community who wish to register new companies would have to visit the Department’s website www.rgd.gov.gh and download the new prescribed Forms and complete them appropriately for the six types of Company registration.

She stated that the Department has also designed Constitutions for Private Companies Unlimited by Shares, Public Companies Unlimited by Shares and a Public Company Unlimited by Guarantee that can be adopted at the point of registration together with the Prescribed Forms for the different types of Companies.

“All such Promoters who choose to adopt the prescribed Constitutions would not be mandated to provide objects but would be required to disclose which sectors the Company would be operating in through the ISIC codes provided on our electronic E-Registrar software.

“Promoters of Companies could also download the Prescribed Forms for the different types of Companies and attach their own Registered Constitution which should necessarily have objects,” she noted.

She, therefore, advised that all other companies that are not regulated by the RGD, but by a different Regulator would have to register their companies with their own Registered Constitutions and disclose the specific objects in these Registered Constitutions.