CCM should allow approved company secretaries or lawyers to renew the business registration (Borang E) for and on behalf of their clients by E-Lodgement.
Secretaries/lawyers/public may allow to buy a duplicate (salinan) of Borang 9 (ROC) and Borang E (ROB) through E-Inf.
Reply
The proposal to allow approved secretaries and lawyers to renew the business registration on behalf of their clients through e-lodgement is not in accordance with provisions of the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 (ROBA) and the Registration of Businesses Rules (ROBR) 1957 which only allows person responsible to the business to lodge business documents. Section 2 of the ROBA defines person responsible as- " 'person responsible' includes every director, manager, partner, officer, agent or servant at any time charged either solely or to a substantial extent with the management of a business".
The law only allows such category of persons who are to a substantial extent in charge with the management of the business to lodge business documents and approved secretaries and lawyers do not fall within this category of persons. Under the ROBR, the owner or one of the partners of the business is requried to complete and sign the application for renewal in the prescribed Form A1 together with payment of the prescribed fee. As such, only the owner or one of the partners, who is the person responsible and is to a substantial extent in charge of the management of business, is allowed to lodge this application.
In order to have access to the electronic Form and to submit application for renewal of business registration via e-lodgement, the owner or partner must first be a registered Public Service Portal (PSD) user and SSM Subscriber. This person will be given an ID and password which act as a personal identification for the person. The ID and password also represent and signify the owner's or one of the partners' signature for lodgement of renewal form. The requirement to only allow owner or one of the partners of the business to lodge business document is to ensure security, prevent unauthorised transaction and falsification of information submitted for registration.
Nevertheless, SSM notes that the proposal to allow approved company secretaries and lawyers to act on their clients behalf to renew the certificate of business registration will indeed facilitate and increase the use of the e-ledgement sevices. SSM will consider the suggestion in its review exercise on the current legal framework.
On the second proposal to allow secretaries/lawyers/public to buy duplicate Form 9 and Form E, SSM has developed an e-enfo image service which allows the public to purchase images of company documents online including certificates issued under the Companies Act 1965. This service is already available and offered to the public through SSM e-info services with payment of a fee
