694Regulation of oversea companies in respect of their names
(1)If it appears to the Secretary of State that the corporate name of an oversea company is a name by which the company, had it been formed under this Act, would on the relevant date (defined below in subsection (3)) have been precluded from being registered by section 26 either—
(a)because it falls within subsection (1) of that section, or
(b)if it falls within subsection (2) of that section, because the Secretary of State would not approve the company's being registered with that name,
the Secretary of State may serve a notice on the company, stating why the name would not have been registered.
(2)If the corporate name of an oversea company is in the Secretary of State's opinion too like a name appearing on the relevant date in the index of names kept by the registrar of companies under section 714 or which should have appeared in that index on that date, or is the same as a name which should have so appeared, the Secretary of State may serve a notice on the company specifying the name in the index which the company's name is too like or which is the same as the company's name.
(3)No notice shall be served on a company under subsection (1) or (2) later than 12 months after the relevant date, being the date on which the company has complied with—
(a)section 691 in this Part, or
(b)if there has been a change in the company's corporate name, section 692(2).
(4)An oversea company on which a notice is served under subsection (1) or (2)—
(a)may deliver to the registrar of companies for registration a statement in the prescribed form specifying a name approved by the Secretary of State other than its corporate name under which it proposes to carry on business in Great Britain, and
(b)may, after that name has been registered, at any time deliver to the registrar for registration a statement in the prescribed form specifying a name approved by the Secretary of State (other than its corporate name) in substitution for the name previously registered.
(5)The name by which an oversea company is for the time being registered under subsection (4) is, for all purposes of the law applying in Great Britain (including this Act and the [1985 c. 7.] Business Names Act 1985), deemed to be the company's corporate name; but—
(a)this does not affect references to the corporate name in this section, or any rights or obligations of the company, or render defective any legal proceedings by or against the company, and
(b)any legal proceedings that might have been continued or commenced against the company by its corporate name or its name previously registered under this section may be continued or commenced against it by its name for the time being so registered.
(6)An oversea company on which a notice is served under subsection (1) or (2) shall not at any time after the expiration of 2 months from the service of that notice (or such longer period as may be specified in that notice carry on business in Great Britain under its corporate name.
Nothing in this subsection, or in section 697(2) (which imposes penalties for its contravention) invalidates any transaction entered into by the company.
(7)The Secretary of State may withdraw a notice served under subsection (1) or (2) at any time before the end of the period mentioned in subsection (6); and that subsection does not apply to a company served with a notice which has been withdrawn.