Registered, reserved and other protected names
Regulation 2 covers company, LLP, LP, corporation and business names under section 27(1)(b), reserved names under 27(1)(c), the categories in 27(1A), and foreign-company/LP names in 27(1B). Identical is therefore assessed through prescribed rules across categories, not just literal company-register strings.
Opening and legal-form words
Ignore opening The and ending Berhad/Bhd, Limited/Ltd, Limited Liability Partnership/LLP, Limited Partnership/LP, Private/Pte, Public Accounting Corporation/PAC, Sendirian/Sdn. The source attaches position conditions, so the rule is not to delete those strings anywhere in any name automatically.
Other endings and domain-style words
Normally disregard ending Asia, Asia Pacific, Associates, company/and company, corporation, Group, Holding/Holdings, Incorporated, International, Partner/Partners, Partnership/Partnerships, Singapore, South Asia, South East Asia, Trading, Worldwide and .co,.com,.edu,.gov,.net,.org,.sg. Equivalent intended expressions can also be disregarded.
Plural and stylistic changes
Plural, letter type/case, accents, spaces, brackets, parentheses and punctuation are disregarded. & has the same meaning as and. A cosmetic spelling presentation does not necessarily distinguish a name under these rules.
The section 6 related-corporation exception
The rules for other endings and their equivalents do not apply if the relevant corporation will be related under section 6 to the proposed new company, or is already so related to the company changing its name. The relevant corporation operates under a name that otherwise becomes identical after normal rules. The exception is not the business-name regulation’s separate applicant-is-the-corporation test.
Commencement and old rules
Made on 21 December 2015, published on 31 December as S837/2015 and operative 3 January 2016, the regulations revoke the earlier Companies (Identical Names) Rules (R 3). This source establishes a name-comparison method, not a guarantee that a name passing it satisfies every other approval criterion.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗