§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Trade on what grounds and on what evidence he has based his proposals for changing the present criteria on which the Registrar of Companies can refuse to register a company name.
§ Mr. EyreSection 17 of the Companies Act 1948 provides that
no company shall be registered by a name which, in the opinion of the—Secretary of State—is undesirable.With the growth of the register it has become impossible to administer satisfactorily this totally subjective test and to satisfy requests for provisional approval. The Companies (No. 2) Bill, now before the House, contains provisions in clause 22 which would put the matter on a more objective basis, by indicating names which would be unacceptable or acceptable only where appropriate conditions were met.