Pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Companies Ordinance concerning the new inspection regime, correspondence addresses (“CA”) instead of usual residential addresses (“URAs”) of directors and partial identification numbers (“IDNs”) instead of full IDNs of directors, company secretaries and other relevant persons would be made available on the Companies Register (“the Register”) maintained by the Companies Registry (“the Registry”) for public inspection. The URAs and full IDNs (“Protected Information”) would only be accessible by “specified persons” upon application. Similarly, companies may withhold from public inspection the Protected Information on the registers they have kept.
The new inspection regime will be implemented in three phases. Details of the phased implementation are as follows:-
(a) Phase 1
From 23 August 2021, companies may withhold from public inspection the URAs of directors and full IDNs of directors and company secretaries as contained in the registers of directors and registers of company secretaries kept by the companies. In such cases, companies are to make available for public inspection on their own registers CA of directors and partial IDNs of directors and company secretaries;
(b) Phase 2
From 24 October 2022, Protected Information on the Index of Directors on the Register will be replaced with CA and partial IDNs for public inspection. Protected Information contained in documents filed for registration after commencement of this phase will not be provided for public inspection. “Specified persons” could apply to the Registry for access to Protected Information of directors and other persons.
At the same time, a company’s register of directors is required to contain a CA of its director or reserve director who is a natural person (“Specified Director”) and such address must not be a post office box number. The address of the company’s registered office is to be regarded as the CA of the Specified Director. Otherwise, the company is required to deliver to the Registrar of Companies a notice in relation to the Specified Director’s CA within 15 days after the commencement of Phase 2; and
(c) Phase 3
From 27 December 2023, data subjects could apply to the Registry for protecting from public inspection their Protected Information contained in documents previously registered with the Registry (“Withheld Information”), and replace such information with their CA and partial IDNs. “Specified persons” could apply to the Registry for access to Withheld Information of directors and other persons.
The above information is extracted from the website of the Companies Registry.
Our services:
1. Updating register of directors and register of secretaries kept by the Company for public inspection
2. Providing correspondence address for Specified Director
3. Preparing and delivering to the Registrar of Companies a notice in relation to the Specified Director’s correspondence address which was not the address of the company’s registered office
4. Applying to the Registry for protecting from public inspection the Protected Information contained in documents previously registered with the Registry
NORCOLA COMPANY LIMITED, a member of BM Intelligence Group, provides our clients with a comprehensive range of corporate secretarial services. For more information, please feel free to contact:-
Name : Ms. Eva Lam
Tel : (852) 2159 5003 / (852) 5175 2662
Email : info@norcola.com.hk
