Registration of a New Company Takes only a Few Days

It now takes only four to six working days to register a new company or to register statutory returns, State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Senator Kern Spencer has said.
“The streamlining of registration timelines will allow for faster approval and registration of documents,” he said on November 1, in his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate.
This follows an announcement by Minister Phillip Paulwell in June this year, that the Companies Office of Jamaica (CoJ) would be implementing a Document Processing Management Information System (DPMIS), to reduce registration turnaround time.
Senator Spencer said the CoJ was in the final stages of collaborating with Fiscal Services Limited in order to gain access to the Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) database.
“This will allow the Agency to independently verify numbers presented by customers and in the long run, serve to provide a link between CoJ and the rest of the Government,” he said.
Senator Spencer informed that the Agency now offered the majority of its search services electronically, adding that the high level of legislative activity relating to matters of the CoJ had facilitated these advances.
“A Bill to amend the Registration of Business Names Act was passed into law in October 2006. The amendments to the act lay the foundation for the electronic registration of business names,” he informed.
“Already, there are well over 600 subscribers to the electronic facility, 76 per cent above target. The passage of the Electronic Transactions Act, now before Parliament, will further move the Agency towards full on-line registration,” the Senator said.
The CoJ is responsible for the administration of the Companies Act, the Registration of Business Names Act and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act.