Key Points
- The Australian Government is providing $89.2 million over ten years from 2007-08 for the Australian Business Number (ABN) Business Names Registration Project. The implementation of a seamless national business registration system will reduce the burden on small businesses by enabling registration in one process for both an ABN and national business name.
- As part of the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG's) regulatory reform agenda, this initiative will develop a seamless online registration process for ABNs and business names, including trademark searching.
- The system will also deliver online business information services and improve ongoing interactions between government and business.
Facts and Figures
The ABN/Business Names Registration project will deliver on a number of objectives including:
- Making national business name registration available online 24/7;
- Improving awareness about the different rights conferred by business names in comparison to trademarks
- Reducing the compliance burden on small business by capturing common data
- Helping businesses by consolidating information delivery on regulation from all levels of government.
Agencies which are involved with the project include:
- The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
- The Treasury
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- Australian Taxation Office
- IP Australia
- State and territory small business, fair trading and consumer affairs agencies.
This project originated as a response to the report, Rethinking Regulation: Report of the Taskforce on Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Business (Banks Report), in particular, Recommendation 6.4; to examine the need to streamline the registration processes for new to business clients, in particular the ABN and business name registration processes.
On 3 July 2008, COAG approved the establishment of a national business name registration system. The Project will also deliver online business information services and improve ongoing interactions between government and business, through such innovations as automatic form filling. COAG also approved the referral of all necessary powers from the states to the Commonwealth for the establishment of the national registration system. On July 2 2009, COAG signed an Intergovernmental Agreement for Business Names and a Heads of Agreement for business online services.
Combining ABNs and business names makes good business sense. Approximately 600,000 ABNs and 250,000 business names are registered each year. These are the most common registrations for clients when starting a business.