Registrar General Abolishes Certificate To Commence Business In Ghana, Here’s New Requirement

The Registrar General Department (RGD) in Ghana has announced that it has abolished the key requirement that required businesses to obtain some form of pre-commencement of activities certificates before their commencement.

According to the department, in place of that, only Certificates of Incorporation will now be required and issued henceforth.

The Certificate of Incorporation, the department added, is a legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation, and this has now been incorporated in the Companies Act 2019 (Act 992).

The RGD said this in a report issued to the public.

Per the new regime, an application for incorporation shall include a statutory declaration by each proposed director indicating that within the preceding five years, they have not been charged with or convicted of a criminal offence involving fraud or dishonesty, among other things listed in the new law.

In effect, once the registration process involving a business is complete, a company can proceed to do business in the country. The move, according to the Department, is to simplify the registration process.

“Therefore, there would be no minimum capital requirement before the commencement of operations. However, companies with foreign participation would still have to comply with the Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC) rules on minimum equity requirements”, a report from the RGD added.

Importantly, every type of business must go through the process of incorporation which involves the preparation of specific documents including Articles of Incorporation among other things.

For limited liability companies (LLCs), the main documents used to incorporate are the Articles of Organization.

Instructively, when opening a business bank account, applying for any type of loan or selling shares to investors, the Certificate of Incorporation is one of the most important documents that a business is required. It serves as the documentary evidence that the company is properly set up.

This requirement further specifies that the business is a legal entity captured on the public register of companies.

Source: Pulse.com