Patents and Company Registration Agency (PACRA) has deregistered 24,713 Companies from the 25,000 that were earmarked for deregistration in 2018 due to non-compliance.
Meanwhile, the Agency registered 27,591 businesses in 2018, compared to 26,745 registered in 2017.
PACRA Public Relations Officer Vaida Ndlovu tells Money FM News in a statement that the bulk of the registrations are in wholesale and retail trade, Financial and insurance activities as well as the construction sectors.
“The Agency also recorded an increase in the number of business registrations by female entrepreneurs in 2018 with a total of 5265 as compared to 2017 which only recorded 5036 registrations,” she said.
Ms Ndlovu further says the Agency recorded an increase in the filing of Annual Returns at 61,144 as compared to only 52,060 received in 2017.
“In the area of Intellectual Property Rights (1P), PACRA recorded an increase in lodgments in 2018, specifically in Patents and Industrial Designs With statistics of 24 and 39 respectively, as compared to 2017 which had 20 and 28 in the aforementioned IP rights. However, the Agency recorded a slight decline in Trade Mark lodgments from 2178 in 2017 to 2024 in 2018,” said Ms Ndlovu.
“In addition, the Agency recorded a rise in Copyright registrations of 158 in comparison to only 93 registered in 2017. There was, however, a reduction in the sale of Holograms in 2018, as only 64, 016 Holograms were sold while a total of 95, 439 were sold in 2017.”
Ms Ndlovu also said following the operationalization of the Movable Property Registry System, the Agency recorded a steady increase in the use of movable property as collateral by the business community.
She added that a total of 1,554 Financing Statements were registered in 2018 in comparison to only 1,272 in the previous year.
“The Agency would like to urge the business community to register all businesses and Intellectual Property Rights and remain compliant with the requirements to file annual returns. Further, PACRA wishes to encourage the business community and the general public to curb piracy by desisting from purchasing audio-visual products that have no holograms affixed on them. Purchasing of pirated products robs the creators of these intellectual property rights of deriving value from their creativity. Piracy if left unchecked can destroy the music and film industry,” she said.
She stated that the Agency remains committed to serving clients better through continuous improvements to processes to ensure ease of doing business.

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