Samoa runs two company registers with opposite rules. An **international company**, the vehicle found in offshore structures, is registered with the **Samoa International Finance Authority (SIFA)**, and section 227 of the International Companies Act 1988 makes its shareholders, beneficial owners and officers confidential. A **domestic company** is on the online **Samoa Companies Registry**, where directors, shareholders and many filed documents are public.
Fill Easy can order documents from both registers by email or through the API as part of its company registry search across 60+ jurisdictions: the domestic company extract and filed documents, and, where the client has the company's authority, an international company's certificate of good standing or filed documents. Price and turnaround are confirmed with the order, and every result records the source, the retrieval time and the request ID.
Registry
Samoa International Finance Authority (international companies); Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour (domestic companies)
International companies are incorporated and maintained only through a licensed trustee company, which files with the Registrar of International and Foreign Companies at SIFA. The Registrar's file is closed: under section 12(2) of the International Companies Act 1988 only the company's officers, members, debenture holders, directors or liquidator, a person with their written permission, or a person who shows the Registrar good reason may inspect it or obtain certificates and copies, and the Registrar must first give the company notice. The memorandum and articles of a company formed after 1 February 1993 may be made available to any person.
Domestic companies under the Companies Act 2001 are kept by the Registrar of Companies at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour on the online Samoa Companies Registry at businessregistries.gov.ws. Anyone can search by company name, previous name or incorporation number, or search for a director or shareholder, and many filed documents can be viewed online as PDFs. Inspecting a file costs SAT$15 and certifying a copy SAT$25 on the registry's fee page.
Incorporation number
A company number assigned on incorporation by the relevant registrar. The domestic Samoa Companies Registry searches by name or incorporation number; an international company's number appears on its certificate of incorporation issued by SIFA.
| Document | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Domestic company extract | From the Samoa Companies Registry: name, company number, status, registered address, date of incorporation, directors and shareholders, with links to the filed documents. |
| Domestic filed documents | Annual returns, constitution, director and shareholder changes and other documents filed under the Companies Act 2001, many viewable online as PDFs; certified copies SAT$25. |
| Domestic annual return | The return each domestic company files online in its incorporation month, SAT$50 to file on the registry's fee page. |
| International company certificate of good standing | The SIFA Registrar's certificate of good standing for the international company. Issued under section 12(2) to the company's officers or members or a person with their written permission, usually through the trustee company. |
| International company memorandum and articles | The filed memorandum and articles of an international company incorporated after 1 February 1993, which the Registrar may make available to any person under section 28(1A). |
| Certificate of incumbency | A statement of the international company's directors, officers and, where requested, members, issued by its trustee company on the company's instruction, not by SIFA. |
It depends on the register. A domestic company's shareholders are on the online Samoa Companies Registry. An international company's shareholders and beneficial owners are confidential under section 227 of the International Companies Act 1988 and are not available on any public search.
An international company is registered with SIFA under the International Companies Act 1988 through a licensed trustee company. A domestic company is registered under the Companies Act 2001 with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour. The domestic register is public; the international register is not.
No. SIFA does not offer a public search of international companies. Certificates and copies of filed documents go to the company's officers or members or to a person with their written permission, so a search needs the company's authority or a request through its trustee company.
Through the company's trustee company, or from the SIFA Registrar with written permission from an officer or member of the company. Fill Easy can order it where the client has that authority; price and turnaround are confirmed with the order.