The amendment has brought welcome changes to alleviate some of the difficulties felt by the public and the Seychelles companies registry.

From this amendment the Registrar has the ability to impose much more serious fines on a company and its officers for non-compliance with the Annual Returns section. If the higher fines still do not manage to obtain the desired compliance the Registrar has a further measure available which is to strike-off the register a company who fails to submit its annual returns within 150 days of its due date. This can be viewed as a major enhancement of the Registrar’s powers to uphold the law and ensure the compliance of companies benefitting from ignoring arguably the most important function of the registry, which is to obtain annual returns. So keep your eyes on the newspapers in the coming year to see if the Registrar uses its powers and gives notice of the striking-off of the register of non-compliant companies.

Other interesting amendments include an annual fee for companies as of 2021, the issuance of a Certificate of Good Standing, and the issuance of a Certificate of Official Search. The certificates are thanks to a register of companies being kept by the Registrar containing key company details. The amendment requests more detailed information for the Particulars of directors and secretary, and too the registered office of a company. This information will be utilised to further enhance the master register of companies.

Lastly companies now have the ability to reserve a name for up to six months in advance. This can assist companies who have started investing in their brand before the company incorporation.

For further clarification on any of the above send us an email and we will be in touch.