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Northern Ireland Company Registry IntegrationThe commencement of the Companies Act 2006 on 1 October 2009 has provided a single company law regime that applies to the whole of the United Kingdom. Companies are UK companies rather than GB or Northern Ireland companies, and the same legislation applies to all. As a consequence, Companies Registry Northern Ireland (CRNI) has integrated with Companies House, under the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Northern Ireland has retained a registry function and presence similar to Companies House Scotland. The office will remain in Belfast with a Registrar for Northern Ireland. There are approximately 38,000 live companies registered in Northern Ireland. Contact Details From 1 October 2009, customers will need to use the general Companies House contact details: Contact Centre: +44 (0)303 1234 500 opening times: 9am - 5pm (UK Time) Monday to Friday Email: enquiries@companies-house.gov.uk The Northern Ireland email address info.companiesregistry@detini.gov.uk will no longer be available from 1 October. The Northern Ireland office will remain at its current address: Website From 1st October, the Companies Registry NI (CRNI) website was closed and all of the relevant information relating to Companies Act 2006 is available on the Companies House website. For CRNI guidance and forms for events that happened before 1st October 2009 please use the Companies House Contact Centre. Contact Centre: +44 (0)303 1234 500 opening times: 9am - to 5pm (UK Time) Monday to Friday For events that happen after 1 October 2009, the CRNI forms will no longer apply. There are a complete new set of Companies Act 2006 forms, that will need to be used from 1 October. The Northern Ireland data has been merged into Companies House databases and is available on the online services. The online company information services include:
The Northern Ireland Online Services are no longer available . If customers had a pre-payment account with the Northern Ireland Companies Registry, this account was closed and the remaining balance refunded Northern Ireland companies will also have access to the Companies House online filing service 'WebFiling' from early October 2009. The company information that can be submitted electronically on WebFiling includes:
These online services are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, both for searching and filing information. All statutory fees on our price list have been confirmed by Parliament through statutory instruments and came into force on 1 October 2009. The only fees not set by statutory instrument are new products (administrative restoration and applications to make an address unavailable for public inspection), bulk products, microfiche, fax copies and newspaper proprietor searches. These are all being administratively set and came into force on 1 October 2009.Are Northern Ireland companies still required to have a registered office in Northern Ireland after 1 October 2009? Yes, even though there is be a single company law regime for the United Kingdom, the requirement to have a registered office in Northern Ireland will remain. What will be the effect on the registration of branches? Under the 2006 Companies Act, overseas companies will be companies registered outside the UK. If a Northern Ireland company wants to open a branch in England, Wales or Scotland they will no longer have to register separately with the specific jurisdictions. Have Northern Ireland companies retained the prefix NI in their company numbers? Yes, companies have retained their current company number prefix. |
