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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The former Act was repealed, existing companies continued, and transition periods did not preserve inconsistent constitutional provisions indefinitely.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.
Documents, compliance statements and electronic filing
Electronic submission and a signed compliance statement support registration, but the legal practitioner must verify the underlying corporate act and current prescribed form.
Explanation and core rules
Regulations may permit notarised or attested copies instead of originals. The Registrar may rely on submitted documents without authenticating them. A compliance statement is issued by a legal practitioner or, for a non-private company, its Secretary in the circumstances described by section 228. Electronic filing arrangements are established under section 229. False or forged submissions can trigger criminal provisions.
Step-by-step procedure
- Identify the current prescribed form and supporting evidence.
- Verify approval, identity, authenticity and consistency.
- Notarise/attest only through the applicable legal process.
- Sign the compliance statement only after completing a recorded checklist.
- Submit electronically and preserve the complete accepted bundle and receipt.
Documents and evidence
- Matter-specific legal checklist
- Original/certified source documents
- Compliance statement
- Electronic submission copy
- Receipt and correction correspondence
Points requiring care
Particular care is needed to avoid treating the compliance statement as a clerical signature, as well as assuming portal validation detects a forged, unauthorised or constitutionally invalid document.
Related Act provisions
Section 226 — Submission of Documents to the Registrar
Overview of the provision
This provision allows regulations to permit a notarised or attested copy instead of an original resolution, document, statement or record that must be submitted to the Registrar. It therefore enables a copy-based filing route where the regulations provide for it, rather than automatically allowing any unverified copy.
Provision references
Where this Act requires a company resolution, special resolution or any other document, statement or record to be submitted to the Registrar, regulations made under this Act may provide for the submission of a notarised or attested copy instead of the original.
Section 227 — No Obligation on Registrar to Verify Authenticity
Overview of the provision
This provision permits the Registrar to rely on company documents and their information without having to verify authenticity. The Registrar is not liable solely because that material is later found inaccurate or invalid. Acceptance or action on a filing therefore does not itself establish that the underlying document is authentic or correct.
Provision references
The Registrar may rely on and act upon any document or information contained in a document submitted by a company under this Act or regulations made under it without being required to verify its authenticity. The Registrar shall not be liable for any responsibility or damage arising solely by reason of any such document or information subsequently being found to be inaccurate or invalid.
Section 228 — Compliance Statement
Overview of the provision
This provision defines a compliance statement as a signed declaration confirming that a registration application meets the Act and regulations, issued by a legal practitioner or the secretary of a company other than a private company. The Registrar may accept it as sufficient evidence of compliance for the accompanying application. Regulations prescribe its form and required contents. The statement therefore links a qualified signatory's confirmation to a particular application and prescribed format.
Provision references
(a) In this Act, a “statement of compliance” required to be submitted to the Registrar means a declaration issued and signed by a legal practitioner or the Secretary of a company other than a private company, confirming that an application for registration in the Registrar’s register complies with the requirements of this Act and regulations made under it.
(b) The Registrar may accept a statement referred to in subsection (a) as sufficient evidence that the requirements of this Act and regulations made under it have been complied with in relation to an application submitted together with that statement.
(c) The form of a statement referred to in subsection (a), and the matters required to be included in such a statement, shall be prescribed by regulations made under this Act.
Section 229 — Submission and Filing of Documents by Electronic Means
Overview of the provision
This provision requires the Registrar to establish an electronic platform for statutory submissions and filings, following the regulatory procedures. The Registrar must also arrange for the electronic documents and information to be maintained. The duty therefore concerns both receiving the material and preserving it afterwards.
Provision references
(a) The Registrar shall establish an electronic platform for the submission and filing of documents and information required to be submitted to the Registrar under this Act, in accordance with the procedures prescribed by regulations made under this Act.
(b) The Registrar shall establish arrangements for maintaining documents and information submitted to the Registrar by electronic means under this Act.
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.