Business Cost News

Foreign firms allowed to drop ‘Philippines’ title

This is an article repost.

FOREIGN CORPORATIONS looking to set up shop here should be able to have a bit more freedom in naming their subsidiary after a regulator decided to lift the rule requiring “Philippines” to be affixed onto the brand.

In a memorandum issued last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it has moved to delete a provision in the guidelines for business names which had required the country’s name to be included in foreign subsidiaries’ identities.

“[The old rule] causes delays in the processing of registration papers since after explanations by our processors for this requirement, sometimes arguments ensue,” Benito A. Cataran, an SEC director, said in the memo.

“Registrants contend that such a requirement is an intrusion on their right to choose their corporate name. They often raise the question why do they have to add the word ‘Philippines’ or have the ‘Philippines’ in parentheses when their proposed names are not confusingly similar to any registered names, nor violate any law,” Mr. Cataran added.

The item was removed “so as not to unnecessarily regulate the registration of subsidiaries of foreign corporations,” said Mr. Cataran.

The Philippines is known for its numerous procedures for business registrations, numbering 15 steps versus an average of eight in the Asia-Pacific region. Early this year, the commission said it intends to implement online registration for businesses within a five-year timetable, in order to hasten the registration process for firms.
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By: Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
Source: Business World, Aug. 16, 2011
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