Registration of Company Secretaries to Commence from 15 March 2019

Section 241 of the Companies Act 2016 (‘CA2016’) which requires a person to be registered under the said provision before he can act as a company secretary will come into operation on 15 March 2019 [P.U.(B)138/2019].
 
The Companies (Practising Certificate for Secretaries) Regulations 2019 (‘Regulations’) which were gazetted on 14 March 2019 will also come into operation on 15 March 2019.
 
The Regulations, amongst others –
 
  1. Require a company secretary to declare in his application, that he is not an undischarged bankrupt and has not been convicted, within or outside Malaysia, of any offence referred to in section 198 (events that disqualify a person from holding office as a director or being directly or indirectly being involved in the management of a company) of CA2016;
 
  1. Provide that a practising certificate is valid only for one year from the date of issuance;
 
  1. Provide that a renewal of a practising certificate can be for a period of up to three years; and
 
  1. Require a company secretary to undergo a Continuing Professional Education as determined by the Registrar to enable the practising certificate to be renewed.
 
With the coming into operation of section 241, all provisions in CA2016 have come into force.