The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) has given business owners until January 17, 2027, to renew their registered business names or risk having them removed from the official register, in a move that could affect businesses operating with expired registrations.
In a public notice, the Registrar said all business names must be renewed annually upon the expiry of their registration, but several names on the register remain unrenewed as required by law.
The ORC warned that businesses which fail to renew by the January deadline will be deemed to have lapsed, with their names subsequently removed from the register.
More significantly, the cancellation means the affected business names will cease to exist legally.
Anyone who continues trading under a cancelled name will be in breach of the law and liable to the applicable sanctions.
To avoid removal, business owners with expired or upcoming renewals have been advised to complete the process at any ORC office or through the USSD short code *222#.
They are also required to settle outstanding renewal fees and update relevant business particulars, including changes to their registered addresses and the nature of their operations.
The notice comes as the ORC intensifies efforts to clean up Ghana’s corporate register and enforce statutory compliance.
In a separate notice issued earlier, the Registrar announced plans to strike off 453 companies, while 323 others had already been removed and dissolved under the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992).
The two exercises cover different categories of registrations but point to a broader regulatory push to maintain accurate business records and strengthen compliance.
The ORC says business owners who no longer intend to operate under a registered name may formally notify the Registrar in writing to have it removed from the register.
SOURCE: CNR
