One-day registration process extended to foreign firms – SEC

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has allowed corporations with foreign equity seeking to incorporate in the country to register their businesses in just one day.

The commission said it has expanded the list of companies that may register through the One Day Submission and Electronic Registration of Companies (OneSEC) Zuper Easy Registration Online facility to include corporations with foreign equity.

The move forms part of the SEC’s continuing efforts to further streamline the registration process and improve the ease of doing business in the Philippines.

“Streamlining the company registration process for foreign entities is a crucial component of our thrust to improve the ease of doing business in the country,” SEC chairperson Francis Lim said.

“By expanding the coverage of OneSEC to foreign entities, we want to send a strong signal to the international business community that the Philippines is open for business and hopefully encourage them to set up shop here,” he said.

The SEC has already registered a total of 145 foreign corporations during the first half. The number is expected to increase with the implementation of the faster registration process.

OneSEC was launched in 2021 as a subsystem of the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company or eSPARC, which utilizes pre-filled application forms to speed up the registration process.

Through the system, the SEC said that applicants could complete the company registration process in as fast as one minute and 14 seconds, from the start of the application to the receipt of a digital certificate of incorporation.

One-person corporations and regular corporations with two to 15 incorporators, board of directors and stockholders are eligible to register via the “pass through” system.

The SEC has also recently expanded the industry classifications allowed to register through the system to 81 from 33.

Last June, the commission issued a memorandum circular, reducing the rates for corporate data requests by half.

The SEC likewise implemented strict timelines in the processing of applications for permits, licenses and registrations as well as adopted a “deemed approved” policy if the commission fails to observe its own review timelines.

Micro, small and medium enterprises, meanwhile, were given a 20-percent discount in registration fees to encourage them to incorporate, as well as a discount of up to 50 percent in the filing fee for firms that aim to enter the capital market.