KIGALI - Businesses and companies which will miss to re-register with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will be penalized according to provisions set by the Companies Act, the RDB Registrar General, Louis Kanyonga, said yesterday.

The re-registration process comes after a Board meeting modified articles in accordance with the new Companies Act (Law No. 17 of 27/04/2009).

All companies that registered before April 2009 when the amendments were passed are required to re-register before the end of next week, May 31, 2011.

The initiative, according to Kanyonga, is to transform companies from olden French and Belgium regulations and harmonize them with regional and international laws.
"After re-registration, companies will not be called "S.A.R.L” or "S.A” but "Limited”, which is more competitive regionally and globally,” Kanyonga said.

"The process requires companies to specify whether they are private, public, limited by shares or guarantees or both. This was not catered for in the earlier regulations.”

She added that to re-register, companies will have to pay Rwf 12,000. However, those that fail to comply before the deadline will part with as much.

"It is a difficult task for both the companies and RDB because we cannot process everyone in a day. What we want is companies to approach us and apply for re-registration first, then the process can be conducted after,” she said

"If a company is unable to re-register within three months from the deadline, then they shall cease to exist legally.”
Kanyonga said that sensitization campaigns were conducted last month in the media to provide awareness of the process.

Statistics at RDB show that 300 companies apply for re-registration everyday.

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