The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) have issued a notice reminding businesses that it is in the process of finalising the deregistration process of all entities that were referred for deregistration on 17 March 2011. A list of these entities can be found here.

These entities were referred for deregistration due to their annual returns being outstanding. Businesses can apply to the CIPC for reinstatement, but have to ensure that their outstanding annual returns are filed before the new deadlines to be successful with reinstatement. The deadline for filing all outstanding annual returns is 30 September 2012 for Close Corporations and 31 October 2012 for companies.

Businesses are urged to make sure that they have filed all outstanding returns, otherwise they risk being finally deregistered without any further notification from CIPC.

Niel Joubert
© Trade Law Chambers 2012