Part 1: Companies House Reform Company names Section 17: Direction to change name used for criminal purposes
An earlier section in the Act establishes the principle of prohibiting incorporation of a company the name of which might be used for criminal purposes. This section extends the principle to company names already on the Register and gives the Secretary of State powers to take action accordingly.
	This section inserts section 76A into the Companies Act 2006, which confers the power on the Secretary of State to direct that a company must change its name where, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the name has been or is intended to be used to facilitate the commission of an offence of dishonesty or deception or conduct outside of the UK which, were it to have taken place in the UK, would have constituted such an offence.
	Specifically, section 76A allows the Secretary of State to issue a written direction giving a company a (potentially extendable) period of at least 28 days to change its name. Once a direction has been issued the Registrar can remove from the public register any reference to the name which is the subject of the direction.
	Within the first three weeks of the 28-day compliance period (however extended) the company can apply to the court for the direction to be quashed. Where the court agrees that a change of name is indeed appropriate it will be for it to decide the timescale for complying with the direction and the company will not have to comply before the court has reached its decision.
	Failure to comply with a direction is an offence on the part of the company and all officers in default including shadow directors and it attracts, on summary conviction, a fine of up to level 3 on the standard scale as well as a daily default of up to one-tenth of that for so long as the contravention continues.
	The section extends the above provisions to any overseas company required to register particulars under the Companies Act 2006.