Businesses in the Maldives are registered by the Registrar under the Ministry of Economic Development, Transport and Trade, which keeps the registers of companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships and cooperative societies and publishes them through the Maldives Business Registry on the national Business Portal. The framework was rebuilt very recently: a new Companies Act was ratified at the end of 2023 and a new Foreign Investments Act followed in 2024, and all registry documents are now issued electronically only.

The official company register in the Maldives

Registration is a ministerial function rather than a court or chamber function. The Ministry of Economic Development, Transport and Trade registers and administers business entities and maintains the Maldives Business Registry, published on the government Business Portal at business.egov.mv/BusinessRegistry, where anyone can look up registered businesses in the Maldives and view their details. The portal describes itself as the one-stop shop for business services and also carries the name-reservation service through which a proposed business name is checked and submitted for approval.

The statutory framework is unusually fresh, and anyone working from older material needs to know how much of it has been replaced:

  • Companies Act 7/2023, passed by the People’s Majlis on 5 December 2023, ratified by the President on 27 December 2023 and in force on publication in the government gazette on the same day, together with the Companies (First Amendment) Act 18/2024. It replaced the long-standing Companies Act 10/96.
  • Business Registration Act 18/2014, with amendments 20/2019 and 12/2024, which frames business registration generally.
  • Sole Proprietorships Act 19/2014, with amendment 24/2021.
  • Partnerships Act 13/2011, with amendment 2/2016.
  • Cooperative Societies Act 3/2007.
  • Foreign Investments Act 11/2024, which governs the admission of foreign investment.

The Maldives keeps one registry covering legal entities and individual entrepreneurs alike: companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships and cooperative societies are all registered by the same Ministry and appear in the same Business Registry. Alongside them the Ministry handles business activity registration, SME registration and classification, the registration of local authority companies under the decentralisation legislation, export and import documentation, and business and corporate resident visa approvals.

Formal acts of the Registrar are announced in the Registrar’s Gazette, published at trade.gov.mv, which is where registrations, changes and deregistrations are made public. All business documents are issued electronically only, and services are centralised through the Ministry’s 1500 service centre.

Legal forms that can be registered in the Maldives

English is used alongside Dhivehi in Maldivian legislation and the Ministry publishes its registry services in English, so the forms below carry their statutory English names.

Company categories under the Companies Act 7/2023:

  • Private company — a company whose membership is restricted and whose shares are not freely transferable; the standard vehicle for domestic and foreign-owned business in the Maldives, with shareholder liability limited to the shares held.
  • Public company — a company whose shares may be offered to the general public, subject to correspondingly heavier governance and disclosure requirements.
  • Government company — a company established by presidential decree or by statute, through which the State conducts commercial activity.
  • Local authority company — a company created by a local government body under the decentralisation framework, registered by the Ministry like any other company.
  • Foreign investment company — the vehicle through which an international investor operates in the Maldives, admitted under the Foreign Investments Act 11/2024 and registered as a company with the Registrar.

Other registrable forms:

  • Sole proprietorship — a business owned by one individual under the Sole Proprietorships Act 19/2014, who is personally liable for its obligations; registered with the Ministry and entered in the Business Registry.
  • Partnership — formed under the Partnerships Act 13/2011 by two or more persons carrying on business in common, with the partners bearing liability on the terms set by the Act and the partnership agreement.
  • Cooperative society — a member-owned body under the Cooperative Societies Act 3/2007, used in fisheries, agriculture and community enterprise.

Because the Companies Act 7/2023 is so recent, descriptions of Maldivian company law written before 2024 — including the classification of companies, the governance requirements and the registers a company must keep — should be treated as superseded.

Information available from the register

The Business Registry is a public lookup: a search returns the registered businesses in the Maldives together with their details, so the existence, exact registered name, registration number, entity type, status and registered address of a counterparty can be confirmed without an account. The name-reservation service on the same portal shows whether a proposed name is available, which in practice also reveals whether a similar name is already taken.

The Companies Act 7/2023 requires a company to keep a set of statutory registers and to file them and their changes with the Registrar. These cover the members or shareholders with their ownership percentages, the directors with their identification and appointment records, the company secretary, the particulars of significant beneficial owners, the share capital including share classes, transfer arrangements and valuation, and the registered office and service addresses. Filings to the Registrar are required for changes to the constitution, to capital, to the board and for financial disclosures, and annual accounts, auditor’s reports and directors’ statements must be submitted and registered.

Because the Registrar’s Gazette publishes the Registrar’s acts, the chronology of a Maldivian entity — its registration, changes and any deregistration — is traceable through an official published source rather than only through certificates.

What the register does not disclose

Significant beneficial owner particulars are a company register rather than an open dataset. The Companies Act 7/2023 obliges companies to maintain and file those particulars with the Registrar, but the Business Registry lookup is built around the identification of the business, not around a beneficial-ownership search, so ultimate ownership should not be assumed to be publicly retrievable in the way that a company’s name and status are.

The depth of what is published online is also limited compared with European registers. The Business Registry gives identification data; the filed documents — constitutions, resolutions, share records, annual accounts and auditor’s reports — reach the Registrar and form the company’s file, but obtaining them is a request to the Ministry rather than a download. Foreign investment approvals sit under the Foreign Investments Act and are administered separately from the act of company registration, and sector authorisations for tourism, fisheries, banking and other regulated activities are held by the competent authorities and not recorded in the Business Registry.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Certificate of registration of a company — the electronic certificate evidencing that a company has been registered by the Registrar, with its name, registration number and date of registration; the basic proof of legal existence for banks, tenders and contracts.
  • Certificate of registration of a sole proprietorship, partnership or cooperative society — the equivalent document for the other registrable forms, showing the owner or partners and the registered particulars.
  • Business Registry record — the published entry for a registered business: name, registration number, entity type, status and address; the everyday first check on a Maldivian counterparty.
  • Constitution of the company — the constitutional document filed with the Registrar under the Companies Act 7/2023, setting out the objects, share capital, transfer rules and the powers of the directors and the general meeting.
  • Register of members and share records — the record of shareholders with their ownership percentages, share classes and transfers, maintained by the company and filed with the Registrar.
  • Register of directors and secretary — the identification and appointment records of the directors and of the company secretary, and the filings recording changes in the board.
  • Annual accounts, auditor’s report and directors’ statement — the financial filings that the Companies Act requires to be submitted to the Registrar and registered.
  • Filings on changes to constitution and capital — the notifications and resolutions by which amendments to the constitution and alterations of share capital are registered.
  • Registrar’s Gazette notices — the official published announcements of registrations, changes and deregistrations, which date each event.
  • Foreign investment registration documents — the approvals and registrations under the Foreign Investments Act 11/2024 through which a foreign investor is admitted and its Maldivian company registered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official business register in the Maldives?

It is the Maldives Business Registry, kept by the Registrar under the Ministry of Economic Development, Transport and Trade and published on the national Business Portal at business.egov.mv, covering companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships and cooperative societies.

Which law governs Maldivian companies now?

The Companies Act 7/2023, passed on 5 December 2023 and ratified on 27 December 2023, together with its First Amendment Act 18/2024. It replaced the earlier Companies Act 10/96, so pre-2024 descriptions of Maldivian company law are out of date.

Can I check a Maldivian company online?

Yes. The Business Registry on the Business Portal lets anyone look up registered businesses and view their details. Copies of filed documents are obtained from the Ministry rather than downloaded, and all business documents are now issued electronically only.

Are sole proprietorships registered in the Maldives?

Yes. A sole proprietorship is registered under the Sole Proprietorships Act 19/2014 with the same Ministry and appears in the same Business Registry as companies, although the owner remains personally liable for the obligations of the business.

How does a foreign investor register a business in the Maldives?

Through a foreign investment company, one of the five company categories under the Companies Act 7/2023. Admission of the investment itself is governed by the Foreign Investments Act 11/2024 and administered by the Ministry alongside the registration of the company.

Are beneficial owners recorded?

Yes, as a statutory register. The Companies Act 7/2023 requires companies to keep and file particulars of significant beneficial owners with the Registrar. That is a filing obligation rather than an open public search, so ultimate ownership is not retrievable from the Business Registry lookup itself.

Sources

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