Part I Formation and Registration of Companies; Juridical Status and Membership
Chapter II Company Names
34APenalty for improper use of “community interest company” etc.
1
A company which is not a community interest company is guilty of an offence if it carries on any trade, profession or business under a name which includes any of the expressions specified in subsection (3).
2
A person other than a company is guilty of an offence if it carries on any trade, profession or business under a name which includes any of those expressions (or any contraction of them) as its last part.
3
The expressions are—
a
“community interest company” or its Welsh equivalent (“cwmni buddiant cymunedol”), and
b
“community interest public limited company” or its Welsh equivalent (“cwmni buddiant cymunedol cyhoeddus cyfyngedig”).
4
Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply—
a
to a person who was carrying on a trade, profession or business under the name in question at any time during the period beginning with 1st September 2003 and ending with 4th December 2003, or
b
if the name in question was on 4th December 2003 a registered trade mark or Community trade mark (within the meaning of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (c. 26)), to a person who was on that date a proprietor or licensee of that trade mark.
5
A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) and, if that person is a company, any officer of the company who is in default, is liable to a fine and, for continued contravention, to a daily default fine.