Through SRO No 1289 (I)/2017 issued by the SECP, the Commission has proposed Companies (Registration Offices) Regulations, 2017. The Companies (Registration Offices) Regulations, 2003 would be repealed in future.
For registration of companies and performing other duties under the Companies Act, the Commission shall have Company Registration Offices at the places specified with jurisdiction extending to companies having registered offices in the specified territories.
The Company Registration Office at Faisalabad would cover territory of civil divisions of Faisalabad and Sargodha except district of Bhakkar in the province of Punjab. The Company Registration Office at Gilgit would cover territory of all districts of the region of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Company Registration Office at Islamabad would cover territory of civil division of Rawalpindi in the province of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.
The Company Registration Office at Karachi would cover territory of civil divisions of Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpur Khas in the province of Sindh.
The Company Registration Office at Lahore would cover territory of civil divisions of Lahore and Gujranwala, districts of Sahiwal and Pakpattan except Tehsil of Chichawatni in the province of Punjab.
The Company Registration Office at Multan would cover territory of civil divisions of Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, district of Bhakkar and Tehsil Chichawatni in the province of Punjab.
The Company Registration Office at Peshawar would cover territory of province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas to which the executive authority of the province of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa extends. The Company Registration Office at Quetta would cover territory of province of Balochistan and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas to which the executive authority of the province of Balochistan extends. The Company Registration Office at Sukkur would cover territory of civil divisions of Sukkur and Larkana in the province of Sindh. Under the regulations, the company registration offices may function beyond their territorial jurisdiction to the extent and manner as may be notified by the Commission from time to time. The Company Registration Offices shall be open for transaction of business with the public, except on public holidays, and will observe such working hours as may be notified by the Commission.
Every Company Registration Office shall have a seal for authentication of documents required for or in connection with registration of companies.
The Commission may, through notification, establish facilitation centers at such places for the purposes of facilitation of companies and other investors and performing such other duties as it may notify. These centres shall work under the supervision of registrar concerned of the Company Registration Office under whose territorial jurisdiction such centre is established.
The regulations said that in every Company Registration Office and in every facilitation centre, there shall be placed a "suggestions and complaint box" at a conspicuous place to receive feedback from the public regarding the working of Company Registration Office and facilitation center or for any other difficulty or complaint and the box shall be opened by the person authorized by the registrar of companies.
Every company which is incorporated shall be assigned a CUIN and in case of any company having no CUIN, the previous registration number shall also be replaced with a CUIN. Every company formed or incorporated outside Pakistan which has established a place of business in Pakistan and delivers documents pursuant to the provisions contained in section 435 of the Act shall be assigned a CUIN.