At 13:53 12/02/1998 +1100, Skeeve Stevens wrote:
>You, Paul Foxworthy, shaped the electrons to say:
>
>+ARBNs are administered by the Australian Securities Commission (ASC), the
>+same body that handles company registrations and the ACN (Australian
>+Company Number).
>
>incorrect.
>
>In different states they are handled by agencies of different named, with
>essentially the same purpose...
>
>In NSW this is the 'Department of Fair Trading' (formerly Consumer Affairs)
>Other states sometimes call their 'DoFT' different things.
>
>The DoFT and the ASC cooperate with regards to listing services... and thats
>about it as far as I know.

I'm no expert in this field, but I believe you're confusing two separate
things. 

You are talking about BUSINESS NAME registration, which has been around for
decades and is, as you say, state-based. An ARBN is not the same thing.

A Business Name is an alias for a person or company. There could even be a
requirement that the person be an Australian resident or the company
Australian-registered, I dunno. Once registered, the name can be used to
open bank accounts or as the basis for a domain name. If you've ever seen
"John and Jane Smith trading as Foobar Enterprises", that's a business name.

When the states and Federal government finally got around to creating
uniform corporate legislation (sometime in the 80s?), a new body, the
Australian Securities Commission, was established. The ASC administers the
Australian Company Number (ACN) and the Australian Registered Body Number
(ARBN). It's federal, not state-based. I have read in ASC brochures and at
the following Web sites

    http://www.monash.edu.au/informatics/physiol/Ghack/arbn.htm
    http://www.mines.sa.gov.au/053391.htm

that ARBNs are intended to register foreign companies trading in Australia.
It's interesting that some Australian organisations, including the Westpac
bank, have ARBNs and not ACNs.

That's why I mentioned ARBNs in the first place. I thought they might be
just what Jim Hawthorn was looking for. The page above from SA Mines site
is all about "How to register a foreign company in Australia" which should
be helpful.

Cheers

Paul Foxworthy

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