The relevant section in the Companies Act pertaining to the position of company secretary is section 171. With regards to a company not wanting to appoint a company secretary, section 171(4A) of the Companies Act provides us with some guidance.

The section states:

The office of secretary must not be left vacant for more than 6 months at any one time.

Therefore, if a company does not want to appoint a company secretary, it can do so for up to a maximum of 6 months. If the existing company secretary leaves the position and there are no other company secretaries, then the company will need to appoint a replacement within 6 months of the previous secretary leaving the position.

Therefore, the answer to the question would be that the company can only not appoint a company secretary for up to a period of 6 months. Otherwise, it would be in breach of section 171(4A) of the Companies Act.

 

If you would like to access the statute, you can click on this link:

https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CoA1967?ProvIds=P15-#pr171-

 

If you are looking to appoint a competent company secretary, or have any queries regarding the post of the company secretary, please contact us at [email protected].

 

When in doubt, seek legal advice or consult an experienced ACRA Filing Agent.

 

Yours Sincerely,
The editorial team at Singapore Secretary Services

For more useful articles and videos, visit the Singapore Secretary Services resource page.

 

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