The Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO) has implemented several measures now that Barbados is in Stage 2 of the National Preparedness Plan for COVID-19. They are:
- The number of persons who are being accommodated in the Corporate Registry at any time has been limited to five.
- No member of the public is permitted to enter the inner office of the Corporate Registry and business is being conducted behind the protective glass. This includes the provision of notarial services.
- Use of the Department’s on-line facility is being encouraged and queries relative to the status of applications and of post incorporation or organizational filings should be sent via email to caipo.general@barbados.gov.bb.
Persons are encouraged to register with the Office as Agents so that they may use the Department’s on-line facility.
Those persons who are registered as Agents may also make use of Government’s EZPay+ system for the purpose of topping up their accounts for the provision of various services, including the renewal of registration of trademarks and the payment of prescribed fees for patents and patent applications.
A drop box facility is now in place in the Corporate Registry to facilitate correspondence and applications. All documentation must be accompanied by the statutory fees with payment by cheques made payable either to the Registrar of Companies or the Registrar of Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office. No cash should be placed in the drop box.
As for the submission of documents to the CAIPO, e-signatures are being accepted and scanned copies, for example notarials and powers of attorney, are also being accepted, provided that they are supported by an undertaking given by counsel to file the original documents as soon as possible.
The Corporate Registry will accept corporate documents from another jurisdiction without the requirement of notarial certification provided that these documents can be independently verified (for example, if they contain a QR Code or some other access code which allows the same document to be viewed on the issuing Corporate Registry’s website).
If they are no such means of independent verification, the Registrar will accept, without notarial certification during the prevailing circumstances, corporate documents which have been executed outside of the jurisdiction where the documents are supported by an affidavit which has been signed by counsel for the body corporate, in accordance with Section 407 of the Companies Act, Cap.308 as amended, and which verifies the authenticity of the documents and the facts contained therein.
Should a Stage 3 response be implemented, then all communication with the Office will be restricted to the email address caipo.general@barbados.gov.bb.