CHANGES IN BIZ NAME REGISTRATION

The Department of Trade and Industry will hold consultations with stakeholders regarding the proposed changes

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is proposing changes to business name registration to ease business.

Under the proposed department administrative order (DAO) on the Revised Rules and Regulations Implementing the Business Name Law or Republic Act 3883, the trade agency seeks to require DTI-registered enterprises to place its specific business address in the business name certificate.

Meanwhile, under the present guidelines, only the name of the city or municipality is required in the business name certificate as well as the residence address of owner.

“At present, if you have a city or municipality registration, what will appear in the business name certificate is the name of the city without the specific street so we will have no way of knowing where in Cebu City (for example) it is located,” said DTI Cebu Consumer Welfare Division Chief Zaide Bation.

The proposed rules, according to DTI, is added to “protect the public” from dealing with business or owners through the disclosure of the names and real identity of the person operating the business as well as other information appearing in the records of the owner.

“Processes are further streamlined to keep it aligned with the Ease of Doing Business Program of the government,” DTI added.

In the proposed rules, new terroritial classification dubbed as “business without borders” or those “businesses whose operations are not limited by geographic boundaries or territories such as those using e-commerce and online stores or those that are conducted in a nomadic or roving manner such as but not limited to tiangges, mobile store operators, common carriers or transport services.

Automatically, businesses classified under this category follow a national territorial scope.

On Sept. 14, DTI will hold a public consultation on the proposed changes at the Marco Polo Hotel in Cebu City. Consultations will also be conducted in Makati City on Sept. 6 and Davao City on Sept. 19.

In another development, DTI is also reviewing current rules on cement imports. A draft DTI order is considering pre-shipment inspection as substitute for testing cement imports upon arrival in the Philippines.