Part 1: Companies House Reform Company names Section 18: Direction to change name wrongly registered
This section inserts section 76B into the Companies Act 2006, which allows the Secretary of State to direct a name change where it appears to the Secretary of State that a company’s name infringes any provision of Part 5 of the Companies Act 2006 , or where the Secretary of State would have had grounds to issue such a direction had the new name prohibitions introduced by this Act been in place when the name was first registered.
	Specifically, it allows the Secretary of State in such circumstances 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 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 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.
	Section 18(3) extends the above provisions to any overseas company required to register particulars under the Companies Act 2006 by amending section 1047.