Guideline on Registration of Company Names for Hong Kong Companies

A- General Requirements of Hong Kong company names

B- Circumstances in which a Company Name will NOT be registered

Generally speaking, a company name will not be registered if –

In determining whether a company name is “the same as” another –

• The following shall be disregarded – 

(i)the definite article, where it is the first word of the name (e.g. The ABC Limited = ABC Limited)

(ii)the ending words or expressions “company”, “and company”, “company limited”, “and company limited”, “limited”, “unlimited”, “public limited company”, their abbreviations, and the ending characters “公司”, “有限公司”, “無限公司” and “公眾有限公司” (e.g. ABC Company Limited = ABC Limited = ABC Co., Limited; 甲乙丙有限公司 = 甲乙丙公眾有限公司)

(iii)type or case of letters, spaces between letters, accent marks, and punctuation marks (e.g. A-B-C Limited = a b c Limited)

• The following words and expressions are regarded as the same –
• “and” and “&”
• “Hong Kong” , “Hongkong” and “HK”
• “Far East” and “FE”
• (e.g. ABC Hong Kong Limited = ABC Hongkong Limited = ABC HK Limited)
• Two Chinese characters will be regarded as the same if the Registrar is satisfied, having regard to the usage of the two characters in Hong Kong, that they can reasonably be used interchangeably (e.g. 恆=恒; 峯=峰: 匯=滙).

C- Company Names which will require approval before registration

• The Registrar’s prior approval is required for a company name –

(a)that, in the Registrar’s opinion, would be likely to give the impression that the company is connected in any way with the Central People’s Government or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or any department or agency of either Government. Such a company name will be allowed only where it is considered the company in question has a genuine connection with the Central People’s Government or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The use of words such as “Department”(部門), “Government”(政府), “Commission”(公署), “Bureau”(局), “Federation”(聯邦), “Council”(議會), “Authority”(委員會), would in general imply such a connection and will not normally be approved;

(b)that contains any of the words or expressions specified in the Companies (Words and Expressions in Company Names) Order (Cap. 622A) (see Appendix A);

(c)that is the same as a name for which a direction for change of name has been given by the Registrar under sections 108, 109 or 771 of the Companies Ordinance or sections 22 or 22A of the predecessor Ordinance (i.e. the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) as in force from time to time before the commencement date of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622)) on or after 10 December 2010.

• Applicants should seek the advice of the Registrar about the above types of names and apply in writing for the consent to use these names before the documents applying for incorporation or change of name are delivered for registration. Applications should be sent to the New Companies Section of the Companies Registry on the 14th Floor, Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong.

D- Company Names with words and expressions which are covered by other legislation

E- Dispense with the word “Limited” in the Name of a Company

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