An association is usually formed by a group of people, professionals, or even bodies coming together with a common interest. Examples of an association include human rights group, religious groups, political parties, sporting groups, youth groups, women’s or men’s groups, trade unions and land owner groups. In fact it is common today to find associations for all sorts of purposes.
So here are the 3 steps to register your association in PNG.
- The first thing you want to do is to lodge your notice of intention to register an association with the Registrar of Companies Office. You do this on an Association Form 1. You should have already prepared a constitution for your association before hand as you will be required to submit with this form. Basically the constitution of your association should outline the rules,regulations and objectives of the association by which it will be operating and for which it is set up. This first step has no fees associated with it when lodging with the Registrar of Companies Office. The second step in the process should only be taken once you have received an approval in writing from the Registrar. You do not publish your intention without an approval from the Registrar.
- Once you have received your approval you can then take the second step. The second step requires that you publish your intention in the either of the two daily papers in PNG. I would suggest you publish with The National as they have a competitive rate compared with The Post Courier. A quotation for publication can be obtained by enquiring with the sales department of these two dailies. Many people would rather jump to the third step then to waste time publishing their intent. However, the intent is a requirement of registration of an association in PNG as it is an objection period in which if any one objects to your intention they have the opportunity to do so by making their objections known to the registrar in writing. The publication period is a duration of 4 weeks.
- After a month from the date of publication and if there is no objection to your intention you can finally
youlodge your application for registration of your association on an association form 2. The prescribed fee to lodge an application for registration of an association is PGK70. Your application should come with a copy of the published article and a statutory declaration declaring that you did publish your intention in one of the daily papers.
Unlike registering a company in PNG, the whole process of registering an association in PNG, from start to finish would take you approximately 6 to 8 weeks, taking into consideration the 4 weeks objection period.
Image source: International Monetary Fund