Once registration of establishment has been completed for a Japanese branch office or a subsidiary company, a certificate on registered company information can be obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau. The certificate on registered company information is a document officially certifying a company's registered information.
Certificate on registered company information and company seal impression certificate
The principal information to be registered for a joint-stock corporation is as follows:
- Corporate name
- Location of head office
- Business purposes
- Method of giving public notice
- Total number of shares to be issued
- Types and numbers of outstanding shares
- Rules on the limitation of transfer of shares
- Amount of capital
- Directors
- Representative directors
- Auditors
- Date of company establishment
The certificate on registered company information must ordinarily be presented whenever opening a bank account, filing notifications with administrative authorities, purchasing assets for which name registration is required (real estate, securities, vehicles, telephones, etc.), and concluding important agreements with business partners.
On certain occasions, the company seal impression certificate (company seal impression certificate sample) will need to be submitted along with the certificate on registered company information.
The company seal impression certificate is a document publicly certifying the company seal that has been registered. This certificate is used to confirm whether or not company seals placed on applications, filings, contracts, etc., have been placed there with legitimate authorization from the company; the certificate may be obtained from the Legal Affairs Bureau after completion of establishment registration. The company seal as well as the names of the persons authorized to use the seal must be applied for registration with the Legal Affairs Bureau when applying for establishment registration. The representatives of the branch office/subsidiary company are the only parties authorized to use the company seal, and their personal seal registration certificates or signature certificates must be presented when registering the company seal.
In the event of changes to the registered information or the company seal, the prescribed modification procedures must be completed promptly. Applications for registration of changes to registered information must be submitted to the Legal Affairs Bureau within two weeks of the changes for subsidiary companies, and within three weeks of the changes for branch offices.
