Rules for acceptable company names

Identical names

If someone has registered or reserved an identical company or business name, you cannot register it.

Your company can be known solely by its Australian Company Name (ACN).

How we test whether a name is identical

There are specific rules that we must use when comparing a proposed company name with other names to determine if they are identical.

If you own an identical business name

If you’re a business name holder and want to register your business name as a company name, you can only do this in some cases.

If the business name holder is:

• an individual, the new company can only use the business name if the individual is going to be a director or member (shareholder) of that company.
• a company, the new company can only use the business name if the company that owns the business name is going to be a member (shareholder) of the new company.
• a partnership or joint venture, the new company can only use the business name if each partner is going to be a company director or member (shareholder).
• a trust, the new company can only use the business name if each trustee is going to be a company director or member (shareholder), and they’ve given ASIC a copy of the trust deed.

Showing your legal status

Your company name must show its legal status:

• if you have a proprietary company, the word ‘Proprietary’ or its abbreviation ‘Pty’ must be included
• if the liability of your company is limited, the word ‘Limited’ or its abbreviation ‘Ltd’ must be at the end of the name.

Most companies in Australia are proprietary companies with limited liability, so their names include these words or the abbreviation ‘Pty Ltd’. Public companies with limited liability end with ‘Ltd’.

A special form of public company used in the mining industry uses ‘No Liability’ or ‘NL’.

Find out more about the different types of company.

Acceptable characters

Company names can only include the letters of the English alphabet, numbers, spaces and common punctuation marks. The common punctuation marks are:

. , ; : ! ? ‘ ’ “ ” ( ) - and /

Only a few special characters are allowed:

# $ = % & | * \ { } @ and _

You cannot use accented letters.

Unacceptable words and expressions

Some words and expressions cannot be used in a company name.

You cannot use a company name that:

• suggests its members of an organisation are totally or partly incapacitated when they are not, or
• includes the words ‘Commonwealth’ or ‘Federal’ (unless ASIC is satisfied that the word is used to refer to a location, such as ‘Federal Avenue Snacks), or
• is in ASIC’s opinion, likely to offend the members of the public or member of any section of the public, or
• suggests illegal activity.

You cannot use a company name that suggests an association that does not exist with:

• any level of government in Australia
• a foreign government
• receipt of Royal patronage or a member of the Royal Family
• a charitable organisation
• an ex-service personnel organisation
• Sir Donald Bradman
• Saint Mary MacKillop.

There are guidelines for ministerial consent (PDF 259KB) that outline the steps you need to take and the criteria you must address if you apply for consent to use a restricted word or expression in a company name.

If you meet the criteria, you can apply directly to ASIC, following the steps to apply for consent.

Restricted words and expressions

Some words and expressions are ‘restricted’ because their use in a company name could mislead consumers. They cannot usually be used. Abbreviations of restricted words and expressions cannot be used either.

In some cases, you can apply for consent to use these words and expressions in a company name.

There are three groups of restricted words and expressions, depending on how you apply for consent to use them.

• For Group 1 you apply directly to ASIC.
• For Group 2 you need to get consent from the relevant minister before you apply to register your company with ASIC.
• For Group 3 you need to get consent from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) before you apply to register your company with ASIC.

There are guidelines for ministerial consent (PDF 259KB) that outline the steps you need to take and the criteria you must address if you apply for consent to use a restricted word or expression in a company name. If you meet the criteria, you can apply for consent to use a name.

You must have written consent to use the restricted term before you apply to register your company. This can take 2 months, or longer.

Steps to apply to ASIC for consent to use unacceptable words and expressions

If you think you meet the relevant criteria for using words or expressions that would not usually be allowed, you can apply for ministerial consent.

Appealing a decision

If you do not receive consent to use the name you want, you have rights to know more about our decision and ask for a review:

ASIC decisions: your rights

Relevant legislation

The laws and rules about identical names, unacceptable and restricted words and expressions can be found in:

Schedule 6 of the Corporations Regulations 2001 – Availability of Names (PDF)