The exercise is in line with Section 5A (2) of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151) on annual renewals.

The act reads: “Without prejudice to any other liability prescribed by this act, a registration which is not renewed in accordance with this section shall LAPSE and the registrar may remove from the register the business name of the person whose registration has lapsed after the expiration of the period prescribed for the renewal.”

Deadline

The Registrar of Companies, Jemima Oware, who gave the hint, said defaulting businesses had up till April 30, 2023 to get their names into good standing.

“After April 30, 2023, all such defaulting business names will be struck out,” she added.

A statement signed and issued by her explained that failure to renew a business name (sole proprietorship) or a subsidiary business name for a period of three months after the year had ended left the name open to be used by anyone interested in it.

“Therefore, to avoid such business names falling into the public domain and for anyone of interest to use them after they have been struck off the Business Names Register, all business name owners are entreated to renew their business names before the end of April 2023,” the statement said.

Payments

It said business name owners could be in good standing by renewing their business names through the short code *222# and follow the prompts to make payment on the Ghana.Gov payment platform with their mobile money (MoMo) wallet, “or walk into our offices across the country and make payment at our in-house Fidelity Bank”.

The statement advised the public to avoid the use of intermediaries and agents when transacting business with the ORC.

“We entreat our clients to ignore all calls or text messages from fraudsters purporting to be ‘lawyers’ or staff of the office and demanding mobile money transfers in order to put their businesses in good standing.

“Kindly note that the office does not have nor operate a mobile money account or have designated any lawyer for that purpose,” the statement advised business owners.