A Circular (No. 19/2020) has been issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (S E C P).

As per this circular, S E C P has provided an extension in time for renewal of license due to COVID-19 ( Corona Virus).

Corona Virus has been impacting many businesses around the globe for a long time.

In order to facilitate the shareholders/directors/employees during this ongoing pandemic, the S E C P issued the guidelines regarding renewal of their licenses, issued in pursuance of section 42 of the Company Law.

As per the S E C P, license shall be revoked with the provision of Section 42(5) of the Companies Act 2017 for all those companies which had not applied for the renewal and the due date for renewal of license was before February 2020.

License would not be revoked till June 30, 2020 for all those companies whose license had been expired in the months of February, March, April, and May 2020 and such companies had not applied for the renewal. However, upon receipt of their applications, the license shall be renewed from the date of the expiry of their existing license.

The license would be revoked for all such companies which had applied for the renewal of their license either before or after February 01, 2020, and certain deficiencies were communicated to them, but they failed to comply with the regulations, said regulator of S E C P.

Also, if the companies face no difficulty, companies may apply for the renewal of the license in a regular manner by complying with all the requirements.