Registration of Business Names Act, 1963

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 30/1963

Number 30 of 1963.
REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAMES ACT, 1963.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Commencement. 2. Interpretation. 3. Persons to be registered. 4. Manner and particulars of registration. 5. Statement to be signed by persons registering. 6. Time for registration. 7. Registration of changes. 8. Certificate of registration. 9. Duty to furnish particulars. 10. Penalty for default in furnishing statements. 11. Penalty for false statements. 12. Removal of names from register. 13. Index of business names. 14. Undesirable business names. 15. Registrar, assistant registrars and offices. 16. Inspection, production and evidence of registered documents. 17. Regulations. 18. Publication of true names, etc. 19. Offences by bodies corporate. 20. Summary proceedings. 21. Repeals and consequential provisions. 22. Expenses. 23. Short title.
Acts Referred to Registration of Business Names Act, 1916 1916, c. 58 Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851 1851, c. 93 The Registration of Business Names Act, 1916 1916, c. 58 Defamation Act, 1961 1961, No. 40
Number 30 of 1963.
REGISTRATION OF BUSINESS NAMES ACT, 1963.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGISTRATION OF PERSONS CARRYING ON BUSINESS UNDER BUSINESS NAMES AND FOR PURPOSES CONNECTED THEREWITH. [11th December, 1963.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Commencement.	1.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.
	Interpretation.	2.—(1) In this Act—
	“business” includes profession;
	“business name” means the name or style under which any business is carried on, and, in relation to a newspaper, includes the title of the newspaper;
	“Christian name” includes any forename;
	“director”, in relation to a body corporate, includes a member of the managing body thereof;
	“firm” means an unincorporated body of two or more individuals, or one or more individuals and one or more bodies corporate, or two or more bodies corporate, who have entered into partnership with one another with a view to publishing a newspaper or to carrying on business for profit;
	“initials” includes any recognised abbreviation of a Christian name;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;
	“newspaper” means any paper containing public news or observations thereon, or consisting wholly or mainly of advertisements, which is printed for sale and is published in the State either periodically or in parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding thirty-six days;
	“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made in pursuance of this Act;
	“the repealed enactment” means the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916, repealed by this Act;
	“surname”, in the case of a person usually known by a title different from his surname, means that title.
	(2) References in this Act to a former Christian name or surname do not include—
	(a) in the case of a person usually known by a title different from his surname, the name by which he was known previous to the adoption of or succession to the title; or
	(b) in the case of any person, a former Christian name or surname where that name or surname was changed or disused before the person bearing the name attained the age of 18 years or has been changed or disused for a period of not less than 20 years; or
	(c) in the case of a married woman, the name or surname by which she was known previous to the marriage.
	Persons to be registered.	3.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act—
	(a) every firm having a place of business in the State and carrying on business under a business name which does not consist of the true surnames of all partners who are individuals and the corporate names of all partners which are bodies corporate without any addition other than the true Christian names of individual partners or initials of such Christian names;
	(b) every individual having a place of business in the State and carrying on business under a business name which does not consist of his true surname without any addition other than his true Christian names or the initials thereof;
	(c) every individual or firm having a place of business in the State, who, or a member of which, has either before or after the passing of this Act changed his name, except in the case of a woman in consequence of marriage;
	(d) every body corporate having a place of business in the State and carrying on business under a business name which does not consist of its corporate name without any addition;
	(e) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, every person having a place of business in the State and carrying on the business of publishing a newspaper,
	shall be registered in the manner directed by this Act.
	(2) Where the addition merely indicates that the business is carried on in succession to a former owner of the business, that addition shall not of itself render registration necessary.
	(3) Where two or more individual partners have the same surname, the use of the plural form of that surname shall not of itself render registration necessary.
	(4) The use by a body corporate of a recognised abbreviation for “Company” or “Limited” or for any analogous expression forming part of its corporate name shall not of itself render registration necessary.
	(5) Where the business is carried on by an assignee or trustee in bankruptcy, a trustee of the estate of an arranging debtor, or a receiver or manager appointed by any court, registration shall not be necessary under paragraph (a), (b) or (d) of subsection (1).
	(6) An individual or firm shall not require to be registered by reason only of a change of his name or of the name of a partner in the firm, if the change has taken place before the person who has changed his name has attained the age of eighteen years or if not less than twenty years have elapsed since it took place, or by reason only of the adoption by an individual of a title to which he has succeeded.
	Manner and particulars of registration.	4.—(1) Every person required under this Act to be registered shall furnish by sending by post or delivery to the registrar a statement in writing in the prescribed form containing the following particulars:
	(a) the business name, including, in the case of the proprietor of a newspaper, the title of the newspaper;
	(b) the general nature of the business;
	(c) the principal place of the business;
	(d) where the registration to be effected is that of a firm, the present Christian name and surname, any former Christian name or surname, the nationality, if not Irish, the usual residence, and the other business occupation (if any) of each of the individuals who are partners, and the corporate name and registered or principal office in the State of every body corporate which is a partner;
	(e) where the registration to be effected is that of an individual, the present Christian name and surname, any former Christian name or surname, the nationality, if not Irish, the usual residence, and the other business occupation (if any) of such individual;
	(f) where the registration to be effected is that of a body corporate, its corporate name and registered or principal office in the State;
	(g) the date of the adoption of the business name by that person.
	(2) Where a business is carried on under two or more business names, each of those business names must be stated.
	Statement to be signed by persons registering.	5.—(1) The statement required for the purpose of registration must be signed—
	(a) in the case of an individual—by him, and
	(b) in the case of a body corporate—by a director or secretary thereof, and
	(c) in the case of a firm, either—
	(i) by all the individuals who are partners, and by a director or the secretary of all bodies corporate who are partners, or
	(ii) by some individual who is a partner, or a director or the secretary of some body corporate which is a partner,
	and in a case to which paragraph (c) (ii) applies must be verified by a statutory declaration made by the signatory.
	(2) A statutory declaration stating that any person other than the declarant is a partner, or omitting to state that any person other than the declarant is a partner, shall not be evidence for or against any such other person in respect of his liability or non-liability as a partner.
	(3) The High Court may on application of any person alleged or claiming to be a partner direct the rectification of the register and decide any question arising under this section.
	Time for registration.	6.—(1) The particulars required to be furnished under this Act by any person shall be furnished within one month after his adoption of the business name.
	(2) If the person has adopted the business name before the commencement of this Act, the particulars shall, if not already furnished under the repealed enactment, be furnished within one month from the commencement of this Act.
	(3) This section shall apply, where registration is required in consequence of a change of name, as if for references to the date of adoption of the business name there were substituted references to the date of such change.
	Registration of changes.	7.—Whenever a change is made or occurs in any of the particulars registered in...