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1. How to use this manual
Begin with a practical question, move to the mapped provisions, and finish by checking the current official filing route.
Subject: Orientation and legal framework
Act references: Practice orientation
Key point: Practice notes explain a workflow; the expandable statutory blocks show the relevant provisions in English.
2. Sources and hierarchy of authority
A reliable opinion distinguishes enacted law, regulations, administrative procedure and the English translation.
Subject: Orientation and legal framework
Act references: s. 1; s. 247; s. 248; s. 249; s. 250; s. 251
Key point: The official Dhivehi Gazette text of Law No. 7/2023 is the primary enacted source.
3. Scope and objectives of the Act
The Act supplies the lifecycle framework for formation, registration, operation and dissolution while aiming at simpler rules and transparent registers.
Subject: Orientation and legal framework
Key point: The Act governs formation, registration, operation and dissolution of companies in the Maldives.
4. Registration and separate legal personality
Registration creates a separate legal entity with perpetual succession, ownership of its assets and capacity to sue and be sued.
Subject: Orientation and legal framework
Act references: s. 23; s. 24; s. 25
Key point: The certificate records the company's name, number, type and registration date.
5. Transitional position and current-law check
The former Act was repealed, existing companies continued, and transition periods did not preserve inconsistent constitutional provisions indefinitely.
Subject: Orientation and legal framework
Act references: s. 241; s. 242; s. 243; s. 244; s. 245; s. 246
Key point: Companies registered under the former law continued under the new Act.
6. Company types and classification map
The Act recognises four company types, while foreign investment operates as an additional classification cutting across private and public companies.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 3; s. 4; s. 5; s. 6; s. 7; s. 8
Key point: The four company types are private, public, government and local authority companies.
7. Private company
A private company may have one to 50 members, one or more directors and no public offer of its shares.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 4; s. 9; s. 10; s. 11
Key point: The share capital consists of one or more shares.
8. Public company
Public-company status is tied to authority or an intention to seek authority to offer securities to the public and carries additional governance requirements.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 5; s. 12; s. 13; s. 14
Key point: The constitution must expressly state that the company is public.
9. Government company
A government company is wholly Government-owned and formed by Presidential decree or statute, with the Companies Act operating alongside its constituting instrument.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 6; s. 15; s. 16; s. 17; s. 18
Key point: All shares forming the capital are registered in the name of the Government.
10. Local authority company
A local authority company is formed by one or more councils for economic activities within council jurisdiction and basic-needs responsibilities.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Key point: Ownership and purpose derive from the council framework in section 7.
11. Foreign investment company
Any direct or specified indirect foreign participation can bring a private or public company within the foreign-investment classification.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 8
Key point: The classification captures a company with any share registered to a foreign individual or entity.
12. Foreign company re-registration
A foreign legal entity may operate through re-registration, but must obtain the relevant authorisation, appoint a qualified Maldives-resident agent and maintain change reporting.
Subject: Choosing the company vehicle
Act references: s. 33; s. 34; s. 35; s. 36; s. 37
Key point: A foreign company must not conduct activity in Maldives without the required registration.
13. Pre-incorporation decision map
Good formation work begins before the application: activity, ownership, control, capital, constitutional protections and regulatory dependencies must be settled first.
Subject: Formation and registration
Key point: Registration requires a reserved name, company type, address, capital/share information, constitution and director particulars.
14. Company name selection and reservation
A company name must be available, accurate, non-misleading and compliant with the Act, Regulation and business-name rules.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 66; s. 67; s. 68; s. 69; s. 70; s. 71; s. 72; s. 73; s. 74
Key point: The name must reflect the true nature of the company and must not be misleading or prohibited.
15. Registering a private company
A private-company filing should be the final expression of an agreed ownership and governance structure, not the starting point for those decisions.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 20; s. 21; s. 23; s. 24; s. 25
Key point: The application identifies the reserved name, type, registered address, capital and agreed initial share distribution.
16. Registering a public company
Public-company formation requires the Companies Act registration workstream and a separate securities-law workstream for any public offer.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 12; s. 13; s. 14; s. 20; s. 21; s. 23; s. 24; s. 25; s. 171; s. 172; s. 173
Key point: The constitution expressly identifies public-company status.
17. Registering Government and local authority companies
Formation must reconcile the Companies Act application with the instrument and approvals that create or authorise the public body company.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 15; s. 16; s. 20; s. 22; s. 23; s. 24; s. 25
Key point: A Government company may be established by decree or statute and registered under the Act.
18. Re-registering a foreign entity
Re-registration preserves the foreign entity while placing its Maldives operation, agent and information within the local register.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 33; s. 34; s. 35; s. 36
Key point: Foreign investment authorisation precedes re-registration.
19. Foreign-company agent: role and exposure
The agent is more than a postal contact: the Act assigns responsibility to the Registrar and personal liability in respect of enforcement against the foreign company.
Subject: Formation and registration
Key point: The agent must be an individual aged at least 18, ordinarily resident in Maldives and free of the specified disqualifications.
20. Certificate and day-one corporate housekeeping
The first post-registration work should convert a certificate into a functioning, evidenced corporate organisation.
Subject: Formation and registration
Act references: s. 23; s. 24; s. 25
Key point: The certificate is evidence of incorporation and its registration date.
Registered address and service address
The registered address, office records and service address perform different legal functions and must be kept current.
Explanation and core rules
The Act requires the registered-address and service-address arrangements described in sections 77 and 78. Section 79 links the effective date of a service-address change to submission within three days; otherwise the registered date governs. The Private Companies Regulation separately requires registration of changes in registered and service addresses within seven days after company approval. Process-service and notice systems should be continuously monitored.
Step-by-step procedure
- Identify and document both addresses.
- Confirm consent/control over the service address.
- Approve any change and record its intended effective date.
- File promptly, accounting for both the three-day statutory effect rule and regulatory seven-day rule.
- Redirect correspondence and move records without losing access.
Documents and evidence
- Address approval
- Occupancy/consent evidence
- Change filing
- Mail escalation protocol
- Records-location register
Points requiring care
Particular care is needed to avoid assuming a late-submitted change takes effect retrospectively, as well as missing a Registrar or litigation notice delivered to the recorded service address.
Related Act provisions
Section 77 — Registered Address
Overview of the provision
This provision requires a company to maintain a registered address in the Maldives at all times. A change follows sections 42 and 50, and must also be submitted for registration according to the principles in section 79. Changing the address therefore involves the relevant constitutional and registration procedures, rather than simply relocating the company's activities.
Provision references
(a) Every company shall at all times maintain a registered address in the Maldives.
(b) A change to the registered address of a company shall be made in accordance with sections 42 and 50 of this Act. Any change to the registered address must be submitted to the Registrar for registration in the Register of Companies in accordance with the principles specified in section 79 of this Act.
Section 78 — Service Address
Overview of the provision
This provision allows a company to register a service address in addition to its registered address. It is the designated place for the Registrar's statutory communications and for legal notices and documents from others dealing with the company. Once registered, the Registrar must use that service address; if none is registered, the registered address serves that purpose for all purposes. Registration requires the building, floor, street, atoll and island, telephone and email details. If a firm's address is used, the submission must also identify the firm and the name and designation of its appointed person. The distinction matters because the designated address determines where legal communications are sent.
Provision references
(a) In addition to its registered address, a company may establish a service address.
(b) A service address established under subsection (a) is an address designated by the company and registered in the Register of Companies for the receipt of notices, legal documents and other communications required to be sent to the company by the Registrar under this Act, and for the receipt of legal notices and documents from other persons dealing with the company.
(c) Where a service address has been established and registered in the Register of Companies under this section, all notices, legal documents and other communications required to be sent to the company by the Registrar under this Act shall be sent to the service address of the company.
(d) Where a service address has not been established and registered under this section, the registered address of the company specified in section 77 of this Act shall be treated as its service address for all purposes.
(e) For the registration of a service address under this section, the following information must be submitted to the Registrar— (1) the address, including the building, floor, street, atoll and island, together with the telephone number and email address; and (2) where the service address is that of a firm, in addition to the information specified in paragraph (1), the name of the firm and the name and designation of the person appointed by the firm.
Section 79 — Registration of Change in Service Address
Overview of the provision
This provision requires a service-address change to be submitted for registration under the regulations. If the company submits it within three days after its chosen change date, that chosen date is treated as the effective date. Otherwise, the change takes effect when the new address is registered. Prompt submission therefore affects more than record-keeping: it determines which date the Act recognises for the change.
Provision references
(a) Any change to a service address specified in section 78 of this Act must be submitted to the Registrar for registration in the Register of Companies in accordance with regulations made under this Act.
(b) For the purposes of this Act, the effective date of a change to the service address of a company under an application submitted under subsection (a) is— (1) the date determined by the company as the date on which the service address changed, if the change is submitted to the Registrar within 3 days after that date; or
(b) For the purposes of this Act, the effective date of a change to the service address of a company under an application submitted under subsection (a) is— (2) in any other case, the date on which the new service address is registered in the Register of Companies.
This page is a general research and practice aid. The translations used in this manual are unofficial. Verify the official Dhivehi legislation, amendments and current procedures before relying on any entry. Read our sources and verification guidance and contact a lawyer at Sulthan & Amhar for advice on your circumstances before relying on this material or taking action.