Guide to Business Names for UK Businesses - Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment

8/7/2019 Guide to Business Names for UK Businesses - Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment

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February 2005

Business Names

March 2005

Guidance


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Department of Enterprise,Trade and Investment

Business Names

March 2005

Crown copyright 2005


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Companies RegistryDepartment of Enterprise, Trade and InvestmentWaterfront Plaza8 Laganbank RoadBelfast BT1 3BS

Crown copyright 2005


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Contents

1Introduction

Page 1

2Business namesPage 2

3Disclosure rules

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4Further Information

Page 6

5Guidance Booklets

Page 18


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Department of Enterprise, Trade and InvestmentBusiness Names Page 1

Business names are no longer registered with anygovernment departments. But there are laws aboutusing certain names and disclosing certain detailsof ownership.

The requirements affecting all businesses tradingunder names except those of their owners arecontained in The Business Names (NorthernIreland) Order 1986. This allows the Department tohave certain controls over the name you choosefor your business and what you must tell othersabout the ownership of the business.

Some words and expressions are controlled byother laws. These rules protect the rights whichpersons may have in relation to names or words.(In law, 'person' includes individuals andcompanies.)

This booklet is a guide to the rules in the BusinessNames (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. It is not acomplete statement of the law. If you are unsureabout any of the details, you should read the lawyourself or consult a solicitor.

Any business names shown in this booklet for thesake of example are intended to be fictitious.

Introduction

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Page 2

WHAT IS A 'BUSINESS NAME'?It is a name used by any person, partnership orcompany for carrying on business, unless it is thesame as their own name.

WHAT CHECKS SHOULD I MAKE BEFORE USINGA BUSINESS NAME?It is advisable to consult a solicitor before using abusiness name. You should also check local phonebooks and any relevant trade journals ormagazines, to see if any other business is alreadyusing the name. If it is, you could face legaldifficulties.

If you have any intention to trade goods orservices, you would be well advised to ensure yourbusiness name does not conflict with a registeredtrademark. It does not have to be identical with atrade mark to cause possible conflict. Problemscan arise if a name is judged to be confusinglysimilar. For further advice, including how to searchthe Trade Marks Register, contact the Trade MarksRegistry of the Patent Office on:

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.patent.gov.uk/

WHO DOES THE BUSINESS NAMES (NORTHERNIRELAND) ORDER 1986 APPLY TO?It applies to:

a company which trades under a name which isnot its corporate name, for example, 'XYZLimited' trading as 'Fish Antiques';

a partnership which does not trade under thenames of all the partners;

an individual who trades under a name which isnot his or her surname. It makes no differencewhether the individual's first names or initials areadded. So the Act would apply to Mr JQZ Singh ifhe traded as 'Singh Antiques' but not if he tradedas 'Singh' or 'JQZ Singh'.

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE DEPARTMENT OFENTERPRISE TRADE AND INVESTMENT HAVINGCONTROL OVER BUSINESS NAMES?Names that include words or expressions that areprescribed by regulation require the approval of theDepartment before they can be used. There arealso other terms whose use in a name may, insome circumstances, constitute a criminal offence.See the next few questions for more details.

Business Names

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WHICH NAMES NEED APPROVAL?Names listed in appendices A, B and C needapproval to avoid the public being misled intobelieving that a company has a size or status thatis not justified. Appendix A also lists broadguidelines on criteria that your business will needto meet for certain words and expressions. A namethat gives the impression that the business isconnected with Her Majesty's Government or with alocal authority will also need approval before it can

be used.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE IS A CHANGE OFOWNERSHIP?When a business with a name that includes aprescribed word changes hands, the new ownermust obtain further approval within 12 months touse the name. This applies whether the name waspreviously registered under the Registration ofBusiness Names Act 1916, or approved under the

Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1982.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR APPROVAL TO USE ANAME?If you would like to use a name that includes aword or expression listed in Appendix A you shouldwrite, enclosing any information that might helpsupport your application, to:

Registry of Companies, Credit Unions and Industrial

& Provident SocietiesDepartment of Enterprise Trade and InvestmentWaterfront Plaza8 Laganbank RoadBelfastBT1 3BS

If you want to use any of the expressions listed inAppendix B, you will need to write to the 'relevantbody' to ask if they have any objection (and if so,why) to your use of that expression. Enclose acopy of any reply you have received from therelevant body when you write to CompaniesRegistry to ask for approval to use the name.

If the name that you have chosen gives theimpression that your business is connected with

Her Majesty's Government or a local authority, youmust not use it without the written approval of theDepartment. If you do want to use this type ofname, you should write to the Business NamesSection, giving as much detail as you can tosupport your application.

In such cases the Departments decision will besent to you in writing after all the supportinginformation has been considered.

Approval by the Department to use a name isconfined to the use of certain words orexpressions. Such approval does not extend to acompany's aims and objectives.

The use of words and expressions listed inAppendix C might be a criminal offence. If you wishto use them in a business name, you should writeto the appropriate body and consult a solicitor. The

Department has no power to approve or rejectsuch names which are not covered by theBusiness Names Act (Northern Ireland) Order1986.


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Page 4

DO THE DISCLOSURE RULES APPLY TO ALLBUSINESSES?If the Order applies to you then you must complywith all the disclosure rules.

For example, if Mr W Jones trades as 'W JonesBakery', then the disclosure rules of the BusinessNames Act apply.

Disclosure rules also apply to incorporatedcompanies that trade under a different name, forexample, ABC Foods Limited as ABC Foods.

Incorporated companies must also comply with thedisclosure rules in the Companies Order. Theseapply to what must be stated on companystationery and are shown in our guidance booklet,'Company Formation'.

WHAT DETAILS MUST BE DISCLOSED ABOUT ABUSINESS?You will need to disclose (as appropriate):

the corporate name; or the name of each partner; or the individual person's name; and in relation to each person named, an address at

which documents can be served.

WHERE MUST THIS INFORMATION BE SHOWN?You will need to show the information clearly in all:

the places where you carry on your business andwhere you deal with customers or suppliers;

business letters; written orders for the supply of goods or services; invoices and receipts; written demands for the payment of business

debts.

Appendix D gives some examples of ways in whichyou can show the information on your stationery.As long as the details are 'clearly legible' they canbe handwritten or printed.

Disclosure Rules

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MUST IT BE DISPLAYED IN A PARTICULAR WAY?As long as it can be easily seen and read, it doesnot matter how you show the information. (Anexample of a notice is given in Appendix E.) Inlarge premises, you may need to think carefullyabout the size of the notice and where you displayit to make sure that all your customers andsuppliers will see it. You can put up more than onenotice if you wish.

Do not send a copy of your display notice toCompanies Registry.

MUST THE INFORMATION BE GIVEN TO ANYONEELSE?If asked for, the names and addresses that mustbe disclosed must also be given immediately, inwriting, to anyone with whom you are doingbusiness.

WHAT IF THERE ARE A LOT OF PARTNERS -MUST ALL THE NAMES BE DISCLOSED?If the business has more than 20 partners, youneed not put all the partners' names on yourbusiness documents. However, you must give theaddress of the principal place of business and saythat a full list of the partner' names and addressescan be inspected there.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DO NOT COMPLY WITH THE

REQUIREMENTS?You commit a criminal offence if you use abusiness name that requires prior approval, andyou have not obtained that approval.

Similarly, you are committing a criminal offence ifyou do not disclose the business details that theOrder requires.

Remember, if you do not make your businessdetails available, or you do not display them, youmay not be able to enforce a contract that youhave entered into.


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Page 6

WHERE DO I GET FORMS AND GUIDANCEBOOKLETS?This is one of a series of Companies Registrybooklets which provide a simple guide to theCompanies Order.

Statutory forms and guidance booklets areavailable, free of charge from Companies Registry.

HOW DO I SEND INFORMATION TO THEREGISTRAR?You may deliver documents to the Registrar by postor by hand (personally or by courier) during officehours.

If you send documents by post, you shouldaddress them to:

Registry of Companies, Credit Unions andIndustrial & Provident SocietiesDepartment of Enterprise Trade and InvestmentWaterfront Plaza8 Laganbank RoadBelfastBT1 3BS

Further Information

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Annex

Annex AAnnex BAnnex CAnnex DAnnex E



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ANNEX AYou will need the approval of the Department ofEnterprise Trade and Investment before any of thefollowing words or expressions (or their plural orpossessive forms) is used in a business name.

(a) Words which imply national or international pre-eminence:BritishInternational

Scottish

EnglandIrelandUnited Kingdom

EnglishIrishWales

EuropeanNationalWelsh

Great BritainScotlandNorthern Ireland

(b) Words which imply business pre-eminence or

representative status:AssociationCouncilInstitution

AuthorityFederationSociety

Board

Institute

(c) Words which imply specific objects or functions:AssuranceCo-operativeRe-assurance

AssurerFoundationReassurer

Benevolent

Friendly SocietyRegister

Post OfficeFundRegistered

ChemistGroupRe-insurance

HoldingRe-insurer

Industrial &Sheffield

Provident SocietyStock Exchange

CharterInsuranceTrade Union

CharteredInsurerTrust

Annex A


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CharityPatent

ChemistPatentee

ChemistryPost Office

The following list gives guidance on the conditions

you will need to fulfil if you wish to use one of thewords listed above. It is not a full list. For wordsnot shown below, guidance is available in ourbooklet, 'Company Names'.

British - the use of this word in your businessname can vary depending on the way the word isused. Normally the Department would expect thebusiness to be Brit ish owned. You would need toshow that the business is pre-eminent in its field

by providing supporting evidence from anindependent source such as a GovernmentDepartment or a trade association.

If the word "British" is qualified by words that donot describe an activity or product, for exampleby using a "made-up" word, evidence of pre-eminence is not necessarily essential. You wouldhowever be expected to show that your businessis substantial in relation to its activity or product

and that it is eminent in its own field; England, English, Northern Ireland, Northern Irish

Scotland, Scottish, Wales, Welsh, Ireland or Irish- if you wish to use any of these words as aprefix to your business name the criteria aresimilar to that for "British". You will usually begiven approval to use any of these words as asuffix provided that you can show that the

business is trading in the country concerned. Ifyou want to use one of these words because it isa surname you will usually be given approvalprovided that the name includes forenames orinitials;

European - names which include this word maybe approved provided that they do not imply aconnection with official bodies of the EuropeanUnion, and provided that the name is notmisleading or likely to give rise to a justified

complaint. International - if this word is used as a prefix to

your business name you will need to show thatthe major part of business activities is in tradingoverseas. If you wish to use the word as a suffixapproval will usually be given if you can showthat its main activities are exports, or that itoperates in two or more countries overseas.Approval is usually given to businesses wishing touse this word when the business is involved in a

trade that is international in character, such astravel or transport, provided that the name is notmisleading or likely to give rise to a justifiedcomplaint;

National - the criteria for use of this word are thesame as that for "British";

association, federation or society - if you wish touse one of these words, your constitution shouldstate that each member should have one voteand normally any profits should be used to

further the objects of the organisation ratherthan be paid out to the members as dividends;

group - if use of this word implies that there area number of businesses or companies under oneownership, then the "Group" should consist ofthree or more businesses under one ownership.If, however, the name clearly shows that thebusiness is to promote the interests of a groupof individuals then the name will normally beapproved;


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WORD OR EXPRESSION RELEVANT BODY FOR BUSINESSIN NORTHERN IRELAND


ANNEX BWords or expressions in the following list also need the approval of the Department. If you want to useany of them in your business name you will need to write first to the relevant body to ask whether theyhave any objection to your use of the word or expression in your business name. If and when you applyfor the Departments approval to the use of the name, you should state that you have written to therelevant body and enclose a copy of any reply you have received.

Annex B

Apothecary Pharmaceutical Societyof Northern Ireland73 University StreetBelfast

Charity, Charitable Social DevelopmentCastle BuildingsStormontBELFAST BT4 3PP

Contact Lens The RegistrarGeneral Optical Council

41 Harley StreetLondon W1M 8DQ

Dental,Dentistry The RegistrarGeneral Optical Council41 Harley StreetLondon W1M 8DQ

District Nurse, Registrar & Chief ExecutiveHealth Visitor, United KingdomMidwife, Central Council for NursingMidwifery, 23 Portland PlaceNurse, London W1B 1PZNursing

Health Centre The Office of the Chief ExecutiveRoom 3D

Health Service Department of Health and Social ServicesCastle BuildingsStormont

Pregnancy Terminat ion; Castle BuildingsAbortion Stormont


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WORD OR EXPRESSION RELEVANT BODY FOR BUSINESSIN NORTHERN IRELAND

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Police The SecretaryNorthern Ireland OfficeStormont HouseStormontBELFAST BT4 3ST

Polytechnic Higher Education BranchAdelaide House

Adelaide StreetBelfast

Royal, Royale, Home officeRoyalty, King, 50 Queen Anne's GateQueen, Prince, London SW1H 9ATPrincess, Windsor,Duke, His/Her Majesty

Special School Higher Education BranchAdelaide HouseAdelaide StreetBelfast

University Privy Council Office68 Whitehall As for EnglandLondon SW1A 2AT and Wales


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WORD OR EXPRESSION RELEVANT RELEVANT LEGISLATION RELEVANT BODY


Annex C

ANNEX CCertain words or expressions are covered by other legislation and their use might constitute a criminaloffence. Some of these are listed below, but this list is not exhaustive and if you have any doubts youshould seek further advice. If you want to use any of these words or expressions in your business nameyou may wish to consult a solicitor and write to the appropriate body to seek their advice on whetherusing a name would constitute a criminal offence.

Architect Section 1 Architects Architects RegistrationRegistration Act 1938 Board

73 Hallan StreetLondon W1N 6EE

Credit Union Industrial and Provident See Companies RegistrySocieties Act (Northern Ireland) 1969

Veterinary Surgeon, Sections 19/20 The RegistrarVeterinary, Vet Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 Royal College of

Veterinary Surgeons62-64 Horseferry RdLondon SW1P 2AF

Dentist, Sections 39/39 The RegistrarDental Surgeon, Dentist Act 1957 General DentalDental Practitioner Dental Council

37 Wimpole StreetLondon W1M 8DQ

Drug, Section 78 The Directors ofDruggist, Medicines Act 1968 Legal ServicesPharmaceutical, The RoyalPharmaceutist, Society ofPharmacist, PharmaceuticalPharmacy Great Britain

1 Lambeth High StreetLondon SE1 7JN

Olympiad, Olympic School etc. British OlympicOlympiads, (Protection) Act 1995* AssociationOlympian, 1 Wandsworth PlainOlympians, *Also protects Olympic LondonOlympic, symbols of five SW18 1EHOlympics, interlocking rings andor translations of t hese motto Citius Altius

Fortius


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Optician, Sections 4 & 22 Opticians Act 1958 The RegistrarOphthalmic Optician, General Optical CouncilDispensing Optician, 41 Harley StreetEnrolled Optician, London W1N 2DJRegistered Optician,Optometrist

Bank, Banker, Banking Act 1987 Bank of EnglandBanking, Deposit Supervision &

SurveillanceThreadneedle StreetLondon EC2R 8AH

Red Cross, Geneva Cross, Geneva Conventions Act 1957 See advice ofRed Crescent , Companies RegistryRed Lion and Sun,

Anzac Section 1 Anzac Act 1916 See advice ofCompanies Registry

Insurance Broker, Sections 2 & 3 Insurance Brokers The Insurance BrokersAssurance Broker, (Registration) Act 1977 Registration CouncilRe- Insurance Broker, Higham Business CentreRe-Assurance Broker Midland Road

Higham Ferrers,Northants

Chiropodist, Diet ician Professions Supplementary to Department of HealthMedical Laboratory, Medicine Act 1960 if precede by Room 12.26Technician, Occupat ional Registered, State or Registered HAP4 DivisionTherapist, Orthopist, Hannibal HousePhysiotherapist, Elephant & CastleRadiographer, Remedial London

Gymnast SE1 6TE

Institute of Laryngology, University College University CollegeInstitute of Otology, London Act 1988 LondonInstitute of Urology, Gower StreetInstitute of Orthopedics, London

WC1E 6BT

Patent Office, Copyright, Designs IPCDPatent Agent and Patents Act 1986 Hazlitt House

45 SouthamptonBuildingsLondon WC2A 1AR


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Building Society Building Society Act 1986 Building SocietiesCommissionVictoria House30-34 KingswayLondon WC2B 6ES

Chamber(s) of Business, Company and Business Guidance is availableChamber(s) of Commerce, Names (Chamber of Commerce etc.) from CompaniesChambers(s) of Commerce Act 1999 Registry

and IndustryChamber(s) of Commerce,Training and Enterprise,Chamber(s) of Enterprise,Chamber(s) of IndustryChamber(s) of Trade,Chamber(s) of Tradeand Industry,Chamber(s) of Training,Chamber(s) of Trainingand Enterprise

or the Welsh translationsof these words


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ANNEX DAlthough there are no rules about how you shouldshow the necessary information on your businessstationery, here are a few examples to help you:

1 Business owned by an individual person:W.JONES BAKERY(prop: W. Jones)12 High StreetBelfast

Co AntrimBT1 2RX

2 A business owned by a partnership:JONES AND BROWN (CAR REPAIRS)(partners: P. Jones and A. Brown)34 Lower StreetBelfastCo AntrimBT2 3RX

3 A business owned by a company:ABC FOODSUnit 2New Trading EstateBelfastCo AntrimBT3 4RX

At the bottom of the letterhead (these details arerequired under both the Business Names (NorthernIreland) Order 1986 and the Companies Order):

ABC FOODS (NORTHERN IRELAND) LTD registeredNorthern IrelandRegistration number: NI1234567Registered Office: 5 Middle Street, Belfast, CoAntrim BT4 5RX

Annex D


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Guidance Booklets

5FORMATION AND REGISTRATIONNIF 1 - Company FormationNIF 2 - Company NamesNIF 3 - Business Names

ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENTNIA 4 - Directors and SecretariesNIA 5 - Annual ReturnNIA 6 - Accounts and Accounting Reference

DatesNIA 7 - AuditorsNIA 8 - Late filing penaltiesNIA 9 - Share CapitalNIA 10 - Resolutions companiesNIA 11 - Company Chargers and MortgagesNIA 12 - Flat ManagementNIA 13 - Dormant Companies

WINDING UPNIW 14 - Liquidation and InsolvencyNIW 15 - Notes on Strike Off

OTHER LEGISLATIONNIO 16 - Companies Incorporated Outside

Northern IrelandNIO 17 - Limited PartnershipNIO 18 - Newspapers Libel Registration ActNIO 19 - European Economic Interest Grouping

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June 2005

Alternative formats includingbraille, large print, disc,audio cassette or in minority

Companies RegistryDepartment of Enterprise

E: [email protected]: 0845 6048888

Guide to Business Names for UK Businesses - Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment

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