The Companies Act 2016 (the Act) provides that before a company or its change of name is registered, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs or the Registrar of Companies must first approve the name or the new name of the company respectively accordingly.

The statutory provision of the Act provides that, except with the consent of the Minister, a company shall not be registered by a name that, in the opinion of the Registrar, is undesirable or is a name, or a kind of name, that the Minister has directed the Registrar not to accept for registration.

By virtue of the said provisions, the Registrar is subject to the following prohibitions or restrictions when considering an application for a company name:

• Prohibitions in the use of names included under the Minister’s direction; and
• Any such name, which in the opinion of the Registrar, is undesirable.

PROHIBITIONS BY VIRTUE OF THE DIRECTION OF THE MINISTER

The Direction of the Minister is as gazetted under Government Gazette No. 716 dated 30 January 1997 and Gazette (Amendment) dated 11 October 2001. The contents of the Direction from the Minister are as follows –

1. Names suggesting connection with a members of the Royal family or Royal patronage including names containing such words as “Royal”, “King”, “Queen”, “Prince”, “Princess”, “Crown”, “Regent” or “Imperial”;
2. Names suggesting connection with a State or Federal government department, statutory body, authority or government agency or any municipality or other local authority, including names containing such words as “Federal”, “State” or “National”;
3. Names suggesting connection with any Asean, Commonwealth or foreign government or with the United Nations or with any other international organization or cartel including names containing such words as “ASEAN”, “UNESCO”, “NATO”, “EEC” ,“OPEC”;
4. Names suggesting connection with any political party, society, trade union, co-operative society or building society;
5. Names including the following words or any words of like import: “Bank”, “Banker”, “Banking”, “Bumiputra”, “Bureau”, “Chamber of Commerce and Industry”, “Chamber of Manufacturers”, “Chartered”, “College”, “Consumer”, “Council”, “Credit”, “Exchange”, “Executor”, “Fair Price”, “Finance”, “Foundation”, “Fund”, “Guarantee”, “Institute”, “Insurance”, “Investment”, “Leasing”, “Made in Malaysia”, “Prime”, “Registry”, “Treasury”, “Trust”, “Unit Trust”, “University”
6. Names that are misleading as to the identity, nature, objects or purposes of a company or in any other manner;
7. Names that are blasphemous or likely to be offensive to members of the public;
8. Names which :
   
   • are translations of a name of a company or foreign company registered under the Act; or
   • may resemble or be mistaken for the name of any other company or foreign company registered under the Act; or
   • may resemble or be mistaken for a name that is being reserved for the purpose of incorporation of a new company or registration of a foreign company or for the purpose of a change of name of a company or foreign company registered under the Act.

If an applicant or promoter of a company has justify to use the names or words contained in the aforesaid Direction, the said applicant or promoter has to apply to the Minister through the Registrar of Companies, stating the reasons or justifications for using such names or words as part of the proposed name by the company, together with a payment of RM150.00.