Business Names Act 1962

An application cannot be made under subsection (1) on or after the change‑over day.

An application for the registration of a business name shall be made by lodging with the Commissioner a statement in the prescribed form, which shall be signed by the person or persons carrying on or proposing to carry on business in the State under that name, shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee, and shall set out —

the business name; and

a concise description of the true nature of the business carried on or proposed to be carried on under that name by the applicant or applicants; and

the address of each place in the State where the business is or is proposed to be carried on showing, if the business is or is proposed to be carried on at more than one place in the State, which of those places is the principal place of business; and

the address of the place in the State where a notice given under this Act may be served; and

the christian names and surname and any former christian names or surname and the usual place of residence of each applicant who is an individual and the corporate name and the place of the registered office of each applicant that is a corporation; and

the date or proposed date of commencement of the carrying on of business in the State under the business name by the applicant or applicants; and

where the business name is a name adopted by the applicant or applicants in substitution for another name, that other name.

If an applicant is an infant, he shall be so described in the statement and the date of his birth shall be set out in the statement.

Subject to this Act, the Commissioner shall, upon the lodging of a statement under subsection (1) in relation to a business name, if the statement is finally dealt with by the Commissioner before the change‑over day, register the business name.

If an application made under subsection (1) for the registration of a business name is not finally dealt with by the Commissioner before the change‑over day, the Commissioner may, on or after the change‑over day, decide whether, had the application been finally dealt with before the change‑over day, the Commissioner would have registered the business name.

The Commissioner shall, upon registering a business name before the change‑over day, issue a certificate of registration in the prescribed form signed by the Commissioner.

(a) The Commissioner may, before the change‑over day, upon payment of the prescribed fee issue a further certificate of registration.

Where the Commissioner is duly notified in accordance with section 12(1) of particulars of a change occurring in relation to the place or places in the State at which a business is carried on under a business name registered under this Act or in the address of any such place and the statement lodged under section 12(1) is finally dealt with by the Commissioner before the change‑over day, the Commissioner shall, before the change‑over day, issue, without any fee being payable therefor, a certificate of registration including those particulars in substitution for the previous certificate of registration.

A business name shall not be registered under this Act if the statement referred to in subsection (1) is lodged with the Commissioner on a date preceding by more than 2 months the date shown in the statement as the proposed date of commencement of carrying on business.

The Commissioner may refuse to register a business name, if he is not satisfied that the particulars set out in the statement lodged under subsection (1) are correct.

An application for the consent of the Minister under subsection (1) to the registration of a business name cannot be made —

in the case of a decision of the Commissioner, made before the change‑over day, that the business name may be registered only with the consent of the Minister — after the end of 2 months after the change‑over day; or

in the case of a decision of the Commissioner, made on or after the change‑over day as provided for by section 7(4A), that before the change‑over day the Commissioner would have registered the business name only with the consent of the Minister — more than 28 days after the Commissioner’s decision.

Except with the consent of the Minister, a business name shall not be registered under this Act if the business name is a name that is, in the opinion of the Commissioner, undesirable or is a name or a name of a kind that the Minister has, for the purposes of this Act, directed the Commissioner not to accept for registration.

Subsection (2B) applies if —

an application is made under subsection (1), but not finally dealt with by the Minister, before the change‑over day; or

an application is made under subsection (1) on or after the change‑over day in accordance with subsection (1A).

On or after the change‑over day, the Minister may decide whether, had the application for consent under subsection (1) been made and finally dealt with by the Minister before the change‑over day, the Minister would have consented to the registration of the business name to which the application relates.

The Minister shall cause a direction given by him under subsection (1) to be published in the Government Gazette and a copy of the direction to be forwarded to the Minister of the Commonwealth, the Minister of each State other than this State and the Minister of a Territory, responsible for the administration of an Act that relates to the registration of business names.

If a business name, that could not be registered under this Act without contravention of section 9(1), is registered through inadvertence or otherwise, the Commissioner may, before the change‑over day, send by post a notice addressed to the person or persons in relation to whom the name is so registered, at the place shown in the register as the place where business is carried on under that name —

stating that he proposes to cancel the registration of that name upon the expiration of such period (being a period of not less than 28 days) as is specified in the notice; and

setting out his reasons for the proposed cancellation,

Subsection (2B) applies if, before the change‑over day, the Commissioner sends a notice under subsection (1), in respect of a business name, that specifies a period that expires on or after the change‑over day.

Upon the expiration of the period specified in the notice, the Commissioner may decide whether, had the period specified in the notice expired before the change‑over day, the Commissioner would have cancelled the registration of the business name under subsection (1).

The Commissioner shall not, except with the approval of the Minister, exercise his powers under subsection (1) or (2B) with respect to a business name that is deemed to be registered under this Act by virtue of section 3(4).

The Minister may at any time before the expiration of the period specified in a notice given by the Commissioner under subsection (1) annul the notice.

The Commissioner may remit any fee payable in respect of an application for the registration of a new business name the registration of which is cancelled under subsection (1) or would have been cancelled under subsection (2B).