Documents required for verification of company name (firm) availability and/or its reservation thereof for legal persons

 
Information note on the processing of personal data

1. Methods for accessing information:
• online, by accessing the online service for verification of company name availability and/or reservation thereof;
• online application-forms, using NTRO portal, here (an electronic signature is required);
• e-mail, fax, by mail (payment by payment order; an additional auxiliary fee of 7,74 lei is required) - contact
• at the counter – trade register offices attached to the law courts through the application for verification of company name availability and/or reservation thereof (original), filled in with 3 designations, in order of preferences; the application – form shall be filled in, shall be checked item 3, in compliance with the purpose for which it is requested.

Note:

• Company names need to be written in Latin characters, in Romanian firstly. (art. 30 paragraph (3) of Law no. 26/1990, as republished and subsequently amended and supplemented). As needed, companies will include the indications provided by art. 31-37 of Law no. 26/1990 as republished, or by special laws.
• It is forbidden to register a company name which contains the words “ştiinţific” (scientific), “academie” (academy), “academic” (academic), “universitate”, “universitar” (university), “şcoală ”, “şcolar” (school) or their derivatives thereof (art. 39 paragraph (2) of Law no.26/1990, as republished).
• Registration of a firm containing the words “naţional” (national), “român” (Romanian), “institut” (institute), their derivatives thereof, or words or phrases particular to the central public authorities or institutions shall be approved only with the agreement of the Secretariat – General of the Government. Registration of a firm consisting of words or phrases particular to local public authorities and institutions shall be done only with the agreement of the county’s prefect (or the prefect of Bucharest), where the applicant wishes to establish his/her headquarters. The application for obtaining the agreement pursuant to art. 39 of Law no. 26/1990, as republished and its supporting documents, need to be attached to the registration application and submitted in person to the dedicated counter at the trade register office attached to the law court where the headquarters of the applicant legal person is located.
• Deregistered companies are unavailable for a period of two years starting from their deregistration date, except for cases pursuant to art.41 of Law no. 26/1990, as republished.
• Companies can only be sold/transferred along with their assets (art. 42 of Law no. 26/1990 as republished)..
• For reservation, the company name will be verified in order to meet the general and special conditions related to the legality, availability and distinctiveness towards the company names already registered in the trade register or reserved, pending their registration (art. 29 paragraph (1) of the Implementing regulations on keeping the trade registers, carrying out registrations and releasing information).
• The following elements (including but not limited to) are not considered distinctive – (art. 29 paragraph (4) of the Implementing regulations):
• word articulations;
• inverting the order of words which are part of an already registered or reserved firm;
• doubling one or more letters or numbers which are part of an already registered or reserved firm;
• adding or eliminating adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, numbers, punctuation marks and other similar particularities having vague significance, as well as abbreviations that are not supposed to change the meaning of the designation;
• using words that are semantically different, but phonetically identical;
• using abbreviations of words which are part of an already registered or reserved firm;
• using symbols equivalent to letters or words (ex:@, #, % etc.);
• using/not using diacritics;
• adding, removing or replacing part of a name, if it does not change the meaning of the firm or using the words “grup” (group), “holding”, “company”, “trust”, “com”, “trans” etc.;
• adding the word “Romania”, irrespective of the language of the company’s name.
• Verification of company name availability and/or its reservation thereof is performed nationally before drafting the Articles of Association or, in case of changing a company’s name, before modifying the Articles of Association.
• Company names may be reserved for a period of max. 3 months, starting from the application’s registration date.
• The verification of a company name availability is carried out by trade register office personnel and the outcome is administratively decided. The final determination regarding the company name legality is made by the director of the trade register office attached to the law court and/or his/her appointees.
• The application for registration, the documents provided for by law, filed and numbered, shall be submitted by the applicant directly at the trade register office attached to the law court, by post, with declared-value letter and notice of receipt or by electronic means. The application sent in electronic form, through the online services portal or through the electronic mail, shall have the qualified electronic signature incorporated, attached or logically associated. If the documents are sent by post, the applicant's identity document shall be attached, as a handwritten photocopy  certified by the owner regarding the conformity with the original.
• Forms are available at the trade register offices attached to the law courts.

This is a general guide meant to inform professionals about their obligations and the legal formalities that need to be fulfilled in order to register in the trade register.