CIPC Freezes Director Amendments Where There’s Reasonable Ground for Dispute
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CIPC issued Practice Note 3 of 2025 introducing a new process to manage ongoing disputes over director appointments and removals. Too many companies have been making repeated changes to their directorship, often due to internal conflicts, then objecting to those very changes. This has made it difficult for CIPC to maintain accurate company records.
To address this, CIPC will now pause all director amendment filings if there is "reasonable ground" to believe a dispute is behind the changes.
What counts as reasonable ground?
If there are two or more filings involving the same directors, and the company has formally objected to those filings, CIPC will see that as a sign of a governance dispute, not a normal administrative process.
When this happens, CIPC will freeze any further filings related to director changes until the issue is resolved through the proper legal channels, such as:
The Companies Tribunal, or
A decision from the High Court
This rule is already in effect.
What this means for accountants
Advise your clients to resolve internal disputes before filing director changes. If CIPC sees signs of a conflict, all filings will be put on hold until there is a formal legal resolution.
