A Limited Liability Company (PT) is a legal entity established under an agreement and conducts business with an authorized capital consisting of shares or individual legal entities. A PT fulfills the criteria of micro and small enterprises as stipulated in the law on micro and small enterprises. However, the company name is the name used to distinguish one company from another. All companies must start with the word “Perseroan Terbatas”, or PT. If PT is written in front, the word “Tbk” is also added at the end of the name.

As stipulated in Article 11 of GR 43/2011, the name of a PT must be written in Bahasa Indonesia if it is owned by an Indonesian legal entity or an Indonesian citizen:

Companies whose shares are wholly owned by Indonesian citizens or Indonesian legal entities must use the Company Name in Indonesian.

According to Article 5 paragraph (1) of GR 43/2011, the name of a PT/corporation must fulfill the following requirements:

1. Written in Latin letters;
2. Not yet legally used by another company or not substantially the same as the name of another company;
3. Not contrary to public order and/or decency;
4. Not the same or similar to the name of a state institution, government institution, or international institution, unless authorized by the institution concerned;
5. Does not consist of numbers or series of numbers, letters or series of letters that do not form words;
6. Does not have the meaning of a company, legal entity, or civil partnership;
7. Not only use the purpose and objectives and business activities as the name of the company; and
8. In accordance with the purposes and objectives and business activities of the company, in the event that the purposes and objectives and business activities will be used as part of the company’s name.

The meaning of “substantially similar to the name of another company” is a similarity caused by the presence of prominent elements between the two names, which can give the impression that there is a similarity in the way of writing or the sound of speech between the two names, even though they have the same owner. about the correct way of writing the name of a PT, namely after PT there is no dot.

In addition, the term “having the meaning of a company, legal entity, or civil partnership” is used in the following provisions: Ltd, Gmbh, SDN, Sdn, Bhd, PTE, Co, & Co, Inc, NV, or BV, Usaha Dagang (UD), Koperasi Usaha Dagang (KUD), established, partner, association, SA, SARL, AG.

Furthermore, people often use the abbreviation PT in the sense of a name accompanied by an abbreviation. In this case, the abbreviation PT may not be used if it consists of numbers or series of numbers, letters or series of letters that do not form a word.

The name of a PT can be:

1. An abbreviation which is an acronym of the name of the PT; or
2. An abbreviation consisting of the first letter of the name of the PT.

However, an “acronym” is an abbreviation consisting of a combination of letters, syllables, or other parts written and pronounced as a proper word. Article 5 of GR 43/2011 and its explanation contain additional information on the rules of PT names in Indonesia.

Based on Article 16 paragraph (1) of the PT Law, there are at least provisions of names that are prohibited to be used by the company, namely the company may not use a name that:

1. Has been legally used by another company or is substantially the same as the name of another company;
2. Contrary to public order and/or decency;
3. Same or similar to the name of a state institution, government institution, or international institution, unless authorized by the relevant party;
4. Not in accordance with the purpose and objectives, as well as business activities, or indicating the purpose and objectives of the company only without a personal name;
5. Consists of numbers or series of numbers, letters or series of letters that do not form a word; or
6. Has the meaning of a company, legal entity, or civil partnership.

Legal Basis:

1. Law Number 40 of 2007 concerning Limited Liability Companies;
2. Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation;
3. Law Number 6 of 2023 Concerning the Stipulation of Government Regulation in Law Number 2 of 2022 on Job Creation into Law;
4. Government Regulation Number 43 of 2011 concerning Procedures for Filing and Using the Name of a Limited Liability Company.

Reference:

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