Which name comparisons the regulations cover
Regulation 2 applies to comparisons with registered business names, the corporation and LP names referred to in section 17(1)(b), reserved names under section 17(1)(c), and the business, company, foreign-company, LLP and LP names referred to in sections 17(2) and 17(3). It is not confined to an exact character-for-character comparison with one business register.
Opening The and legal-form endings
Disregard The when it is the first word. At the end of a name, disregard Berhad/Bhd, Limited/Ltd, Limited Liability Partnership/LLP, Limited Partnership/LP, Private/Pte, Public Accounting Corporation/PAC and Sendirian/Sdn. The location qualification matters: the source specifies an opening The and ending legal-form words.
Other endings and internet-style suffixes
The ending expressions ordinarily ignored are Asia, Asia Pacific, Associates, company/and company, corporation, Group, Holding/Holdings, Incorporated, International, Partner/Partners, Partnership/Partnerships, Singapore, South Asia, South East Asia, Trading and Worldwide. The list also covers .co, .com, .edu, .gov, .net, .org and .sg. Adding only one of these endings should not be assumed to create a distinct name.
Equivalent expressions, plural and styling
The Registrar may disregard expressions intended to represent the listed opening or ending words. The rules also ignore plural forms, letter type and case, accents, spaces, brackets, parentheses and punctuation. The symbol & means the same as and for the comparison. These rules explain why cosmetic changes may still leave a name identical.
The specific corporation exception
Paragraphs 2(2)(c) and 2(2)(d)(ii), dealing with the other ending expressions and their intended equivalents, do not apply when the applicant is the corporation carrying on business or operating under the relevant name. The relevant name is one that would otherwise be identical after applying the normal rules. This does not waive all ignored-word rules and should not be substituted with the separate related-entity exception found in accounting-entity practice directions.
Commencement and predecessor regulations
The regulations came into operation on 3 January 2016 and revoked the Business Registration (Identical Names) Regulations 2009, S 186/2009. They were made on 21 December 2015 and published on 31 December 2015 as S 827/2015. This article explains that published instrument rather than silently replacing it with an undated current-law statement.
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 ↗