SB3557eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB3557 Engrossed LRB098 17841 JLS 52965 b

AN ACT concerning business.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Assumed Business Name Act is amended by changing Sections 1, 3, and 3a as follows:

(805 ILCS 405/1) (from Ch. 96, par. 4)

Sec. 1. Certificate; misrepresentation; renewals.

(a) No person or persons shall conduct or transact business in this State under an assumed name, or under any designation, name or style, corporate or otherwise, other than the real name or names of the individual or individuals conducting or transacting such business, unless such person or persons shall file in the office of and in the manner prescribed by the County Clerk of the County in which such person or persons conduct or transact or intend to conduct or transact such business, a certificate setting forth the name under which the business is, or is to be, conducted or transacted, and the true or real full name or names of the person or persons owning, conducting or transacting the same, with the post office address or addresses of such person or persons and every address where such business is, or is to be, conducted or transacted in the county. The certificate shall be executed and duly acknowledged by the person or persons so conducting or intending to conduct the business.

(b) Notice of the filing of such certificate shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation published within the county in which the certificate is filed. Such notice shall be published once a week for 3 consecutive weeks. The first publication shall be within 15 days after the certificate is filed in the office of the County Clerk. Proof of publication shall be filed with the County Clerk within 50 days from the date of filing the certificate. Upon receiving proof of publication, the clerk shall issue a receipt to the person filing such certificate but no additional charge shall be assessed by the clerk for giving such receipt. Unless proof of publication is made to the clerk, the certificate of registration of the assumed name is void.

(c) If any person changes his name or his residence address or the address of any place of business in the county where such assumed name is being employed after filing a certificate, or if the name of a person is added to any business organization for which a certificate is on file, such person shall file an additional, duly acknowledged certificate in the office of the County Clerk of the county in which such person transacts business under an assumed name. The certificate shall set out the change or addition as the case may be. Such certificate shall also set out the post office address of the person. If any business organization for which such certificate has been filed in any county of this State shall remove its place of business to another county in this State or shall establish an additional location for doing business in another county of this State, a certificate shall be filed in the office of the County Clerk of such other county and notice of the filing of such certificate of a change or addition of a name shall be published and proof of publication made pursuant to the provisions of this section in the same manner as is provided for original certificates to do business under an assumed name.

(d) A foreign person or foreign entity may not use an assumed or fictitious name in the conduct of its business to intentionally misrepresent the origin or location of the person or entity.

(e) A person conducting business under an assumed name in a county with more than 4,000,000 inhabitants shall renew the certificate filed under subsection (a) every 5 years after the initial filing. Certificates on record as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly shall be renewed within 5 years after that effective date by a date established by the County Clerk of the county in which the certificate is filed. The County Clerk shall notify the person or persons of the renewal date at least 90 days before the renewal date. If the notice sent by the County Clerk is sent to an address set forth in the assumed name certificate, as amended, and the notice is returned as undeliverable at that address, the County Clerk may at his or her discretion cancel that certificate. Failure to renew the certificate before the renewal date shall result in the cancellation of the person's assumed name in the index maintained under Section 3. The County Clerk shall collect a fee of $25 at the time of each renewal. By ordinance of its governing board, a county with fewer than 4,000,000 inhabitants may adopt this subsection, making its provisions applicable to that county as if its population exceeded 4,000,000 inhabitants.

(Source: P.A. 91-906, eff. 1-1-01.)

(805 ILCS 405/3) (from Ch. 96, par. 6)

Sec. 3. The several County Clerks of this State shall keep an alphabetical index of all persons filing certificates pursuant to Sections 1 and 2, and for the indexing and filing of such certificate shall receive a fee established by the County Clerk in an amount not exceeding $50 of $5.00. A copy of such certificate and receipt for proof of publication, duly certified to by the County Clerk in whose office the certificate is filed, shall be presumptive evidence in all courts of law in this State of the facts therein contained.

(Source: P.A. 85-186.)

(805 ILCS 405/3a) (from Ch. 96, par. 6a)

Sec. 3a. Any person who has executed and filed the certificate required by Section 1 or 2 of this Act and who wishes to withdraw his name from the business organization shall have the certificate cancelled in whole or in part by filing in the office of the County Clerk where the certificate is filed, a supplementary certificate under oath, showing that such person or persons have ceased doing business under the assumed name, or that the person or persons executing the supplementary certificate have no further connection with or financial interest in the business carried on under such assumed name; whereupon the County Clerk shall note opposite the trade name theretofore registered, the word "cancelled" and the date of cancellation, or, in the case of withdrawal only of one or more but less than all of the registrants, the clerk shall note the word "Withdrawn" after the name of each party filing the supplementary certificate indicating the withdrawal, together with the date of such withdrawal. When such withdrawal effectuates any change in or transfer of the ownership of 25% or more of the total ownership interest in any such business organization doing business under an assumed name, then notice of the filing of such certificate shall be published.

A For filing a certificate noting the cancellation or withdrawal of one or more names, the County Clerk shall collect receive a fee of $25 from any person who cancels a filed certificate, withdraws a name, or otherwise amends the certificate $1.50.

Where a person files a certificate pursuant to Section 1 or 2 setting out a change of his name, or that his name is an addition to an organization doing business under an assumed name which has previously been registered, the County Clerk shall note on the index of such person's name the word "changed" or "addition" as the case may be.

(Source: Laws 1963, p. 2997.)