Name

(1) The word “Limited”, “Corporation”, “Incorporated”, “ Société Anonyme” or “Sociedad Anonima” or “Aktiengesellschaft” or the abbreviation “Ltd.”, “Corp.” “Inc.” or “S.A.” or “A.S.” or “A.G.” must be part of the name of every company incorporated under this Act, but a company may use and may be legally designated by either the full or the abbreviated form. (2) The name of a company incorporated under this Act shall be registered in Roman script, but a company may elect to register as an alternative name an accurate translation of the name registered in Roman script, and which name may be expressed in any script. For the purpose of satisfying the registration and filing requirements under this Act, a company incorporated under this Act shall use the name as expressed in Roman script, but in any dealings with third parties the company may use the alternative name in the form submitted to the Registrar at the time of incorporation. (3) No company shall be incorporated under this Act under a name thatCAP. 250. (a) is identical with that under which a company in existence is already incorporated under this Act or registered under the Companies Act, or so nearly resembles the name as to be calculated to deceive; or 24 (b) contains the words “Building Society”, of Commerce”, “Chartered”, “Cooperative”, “Imperial”, “Monarchy”, “Municipal”, “Royal”, or a word conveying a similar meaning, or any other word that, in the opinion of the Registrar, suggests or is calculated to suggest– (i) the patronage of Her Majesty or that of a member of the Royal Family; or (ii) a connection with the Government of Belize or a department thereof, except with the approval of the Registrar in writing; (c) is indecent, offensive or, in the opinion of the Registrar, objectionable; (d) contains any one or more of the words “Academy”, “Assurance”, “Bank”, “Brokerage”, “Credit Union”, “Education”, “Fiduciary”, “Financial”, “Foreign Exchange”, “Forex”, “Fund”, “Investment “Insurance”, “Lending”, “Securities”, “Trust”, or “University” or any of their derivatives or cognate expressions, unless it is licensed under the enactment or enactments that authorize it to carry on the business or activities associated with the word or words, so contained; (e) contains the top level domain such as “.com”, “.org”, “.net” or “.bz” of a domain name. (3A) The Registrar may, by Order published in the Gazette, modify the list of words specified in sub-section (3)(d) to which International Business Companies[CAP. 270 25 the business or activities of a company may be associated, by, among other things, adding words or abbreviations to the list. (4) A company may amend its Memorandum to change its (5) If a company is incorporated under a name thatCAP. 250. (a) is identical with a name under which a company in existence was incorporated under this Act or registered under the Companies Act; or (b) so nearly resembles the name as to be calculated to deceive, the Registrar may, without the consent of the company in existence, give notice to the last registered company to change its name and if it fails to do so within 60 days from the date of the notice, the Registrar must amend the Memorandum of the company to change its name to such name as the Registrar deems appropriate, and the Registrar must publish notice of the change in the Gazette, the website of the Registrar or other publication of general circulation in Belize. (6) Subject to sub-sections (3) and (5), where a company changes its name, the Registrar must enter the new name on the Register in place of the former name, and must issue a certificate of incorporation indicating the change of name. (7) A change of name does not affect any rights or obligations of a company, or render defective any legal proceedings by or against a company, and all legal proceedings that have been commenced against a company by its former name may be continued against it by its new name. (8) Subject to sub-section (3), the Registrar may, upon a request made by any person, reserve for 90 days a name for future adoption by a company under this Act. 26 (9) Despite anything contained in this section, an international business company that is continued under this ActCAP. 250. (a) shall be continued with the name it lawfully had before that continuance if there is no other company registered under this Act or the Companies Act in that name; and (b) may only submit to the Registrar a request for the consideration of a change of name after a period of six months has elapsed from the date of continuation pursuant to section 92.