Minister of Industry and Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons & Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen (centre) discusses with Ministry Secretary KDN Ranjith Ashoka (right) and Registrar General of Companies D.N.R. Siriwardena (far left) on January 17 at the Ministry in Colombo 3.
The second stage of South Asia’s most sophisticated, national scale electronic company registration will commence when Sri Lanka’s Company Registrar activates it today. (21)
“I commend the Registrar of Companies for completing the second stage of hi-tech registration system on time just as we promised in April 2018. My effort is to support Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vision of moving higher in the Doing Business Index ranking,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons and Cooperative Development Rishad Bathiudeen.
Minister Bathiudeen, joined by Ministry Secretary K. D. N. Ranjith Ashoka, Additional Secretary M. Thajudeen, and Registrar General of Companies D.N.R. Siriwardena was addressing a progress review of many institutions under his Ministry on January 17.
“Today Sri Lanka’s corporate and private sectors are directly supported by our Ministry through the Department of Registrar of Companies. The first stage of the new system, called E-ROC, to register companies and associations online is successful. As a result now anyone can register a Sri Lankan Company within one hour through this online process, compared to four days of registration under the manual system we practiced earlier” said Minister Bathiudeen.
“From next Monday 21, when the second stage of E-ROC takes off, immediate registration of Secretaries, Auditors, Public Contracts, Societies and issuing of certified copies too are automated.
This marks successful halfway-milestone completion of this project. I am confident that we can launch the finalised full E-ROC system at end-March this year. In the meanwhile, I direct the officials to install a public Complaints Box at the RoC and promptly attend to all the complaints received ”
Registrar General of Companies D.N.R. Siriwardena and his officials informed Minister Bathiudeen that the full cost of E-ROC is only US $ 260,000 (Rs 48 million), and that too has been entirely paid by RoC’s earnings without any funds from the Treasury. Sri Lanka’s E-ROC system is also South Asia’s first national level E-ROC integrating registrations from all corners of the island. Even Company registrations from abroad is enabled. Provided all required documentations are properly submitted, registrations could be completed within one hour.