COVID-19 Compliance Relief Initiative Extended to January 31, 2023

The Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) has extended support under the COVID-19 Compliance Relief Initiative for businesses and companies wishing to close their operations.

The initiative, which was developed to assist entities in being officially removed from the companies and business names registers, started in May 2020 and ended in March 2022.

However, after several persons expressed interest, it was relaunched on August 1, 2022 and will now run until January 31, 2023.

Registrar of Companies and Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), COJ, Shellie Leon, told JIS News that due to overwhelming demand, it was decided to extend the support for another six months.

“There are persons out there who indicated that they did not hear about it and that they need to utilise this facility,” she said.

Under the initiative, the COJ will facilitate companies and businesses wishing to close by forgoing the usual document submissions and late fees, thereby reducing costs.

“One of our mandates at the Companies Office of Jamaica is to improve the ease of doing business for companies and businesses operating in Jamaica. There are several companies and businesses that were hit hard during the… pandemic, and so these persons really need to start over with a clean slate,” she explained.

“In fulfilling this mandate, the COJ is allowing persons to exit easily and economically, so that they may come back and start afresh,” she added.

Ms. Leon encouraged persons to take advantage of this final opportunity.

Persons may visit the COJ website at www.orcjamaica.com for further information.