Guidance

Choosing a European Company name

Before proceeding with the incorporation of a European Company, you must first decide upon the proposed name of your company, which will have to be approved by the Registrar of Companies. The proposed company name must meet the relevant criteria and be written in the exact same manner as in the memorandum and the articles of association of the company.

Search of the proposed name

Once you decide upon the proposed name for your European Company, and before submitting an application for approval of the proposed name, you are advised to conduct an online search on the business entities' register of the Registrar of Companies, as well as a search into the physical files of the SE and EEIG, in order to determine whether there is already a registered business entity with the same, or a similar, name.

In order for the proposed name to be approved, it must not be too similar to the name of an already existing business entity or be misleading or undesirable. If your proposed name is similar to the name of an already existing business entity, it can only be examined if, a relevant consent from the existing registered business entity is submitted together with your application for approval of name.

Following the submission of application for approval of the name, the Registrar of Companies will carry out a search, in relation to the proposed name that , which will not be limited to Cypriot business entities. As a result of this search, the Registrar of Companies may reject a name for the purposes of protecting the reputation of an international organisation not registered in Cyprus (e.g. Coca Cola, McDonalds, etc). To this end, you are advised to conduct an online search over the existing registered trademarks so that you may determine whether a registered trademark with the same or a similar name already exists.

If the name contains restrictive words or expressions, the necessary consent of the competent governmental authority or other body should be obtained and submitted.

SE Acronym

The proposed name of the European company must bear at the end, the Latin characters ‘SE’.

Submission of application for name approval

The application for approval/change of name is submitted to the Registrar of Companies , via e-filing or by hand/post, accompanied by:

• permission, consent or preapproval, by the appropriate governmental authority or appropriate body if required for the use of words or expressions and/or the nature of business respectively;
• payment of ten euros (€10) fee for every proposed name. If the accelerated process is required, an additional fee of twenty euros (€20) for every proposed name must be paid.

You are advised to refer to the main criteria of review and the most common reasons for rejection , so as to acquire a better understanding of what is required and to facilitate the process further.

The name approval results are available online via e-services.

Once the name is approved, an application for the European Company's incorporation must be submitted, in accordance with the legal form of the entity/business, within six (6) months, a period during which the approved proposed name is reserved.

e-approval of name