Tonga's new Company Registration facility was launched on December 1 when the Acting Prime Minister Dr Viliami Tangi presented HRH Princess Pilolevu Tuita with the Re-registration Certificate of her company, the Friendly Islands Satellite Communications Ltd. at the International Dateline Hotel.

All Tongan companies are required to re-register free of charge within six months, before May 31, 2010. The new facility allows company registration details to be accessed online by the public at a new website.

Fire

The records of all companies registered in Tonga were destroyed in Nuku'alofa riots on November 16, 2006 when the office of the company registrar at the Tungi Arcade was razed by fire.

To reregister companies need to produce evidence of their original incorporation date and if they are not on the current register they will need to produce evidence of previous incorporation to complete registry requirements. In addition, companies taking in their registration documents will have paperwork entered into the electronic system by Ministry of Labour staff members, and that information is available to the public online.

A certificate is generated automatically to register the business.

The Acting Prime Minister Dr Viliami Tangi said the system is intended to make it easier for business to register and once they do it will house records securely and safely online.

Government is pleased with this new development that will help to support the business community in Tonga, he said.

Tonga is the first in the Pacific to have an electronic registry and the system is based on the same software used in the New Zealand Companies office.

The system was funded by the International Finance Cooperation IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.