Certain Businesses Require Clearances for SEC Registration

Certain types of businesses will need to get either clearances from other SEC departments or endorsements from other government agencies.

When starting a business here in the Philippines, there are processes that need to be completed and permits that need to be secured first. Partnerships and corporations, in particular, need to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC registration can now be done online via the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC). Here, partnerships and corporations can choose between Regular Processing or OneSEC Processing. It is important to note that the latter is for domestic stock corporations.

As with any application process, documentary requirements are needed to be submitted to the SEC. The necessary documentary requirements differ for partnerships, stock corporations, and non-stock corporations. A full list of requirements can be found here.

In addition, certain types of businesses need either clearance from specific SEC departments or endorsement from other government agencies in order to successfully complete the SEC registration.

Businesses That Require Clearance from SEC Departments

The following types of business require clearance from specific departments of the SEC:

Corporate Governance and Finance Department
- Investment companies
- Financing and lending companies
- Issuers of proprietary and non-proprietary memberships
- Listed and public companies and foundation
Markets and Securities Regulation Department
- Capital Market Institutions

Businesses That Require Endorsement from Other Government Agencies

The following types of business, on the other hand, need to receive the endorsement of other government agencies:

Type of Business	Government Agency That Should Endorse
Air transport	Civil Aeronautics Board
Bank, pawnshop, and other financial intermediaries with quasi-banking functions	Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Educational institution (stock and non-stock)	Elementary: Department of Education
	College, Tertiary Course: Commission on Higher Education
	Technical Vocational Course: Technical Education Skills and Development Authority
Electrical power plant / Trading of petroleum products	Department of Energy
Hospital, dental, and medical clinics	Department of Health
Insurance / Mutual benefit association / Health maintenance organization	Insurance Commission
Money changer and remittance services	Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Non-chartered government owned and controlled corporation	Government Commission for Government-owned and Controlled Corporation
Professional association	Professional Regulation Commission
Radio, TV, telephone, internet service providers, and value-added service providers	National Telecommunications Commission
Recruitment for overseas employment	Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
Security agency / Anti-crime task force	Philippine National Police
Tobacco-related business	National Tobacco Administration
Volunteer fire brigade	Bureau of Fire Protection
Vessel or ship operation, ship management, ship building, ship repair, shipping agency, ship husbanding, ship chandling, and other marine-related activities	Maritime Industry Authority
Water service providers and waterworks	Local Waterworks Utilities Administration / Manila Waterworks and Sewerage Systems