Authority urges clients to use its online services

WITH the recent spike in the Covid-19 cases in the country, the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) is advising clients to utilise its online registry services instead of going to the office to lodge paper files.
Managing director Clarence Hoot said similarly, intellectual property matters, including lodgments for trademarks, patents and industrial designs, should only be done through email.
“This is purposely to discourage face-to-face interactions and minimise movement of people in and out of the IPA premises and mitigate the potential spread of the virus amongst its clients and the general public,” he said.
“Furthermore, the IPA intends to scale down on daily service hours at its reception counters and counter service areas to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“A drop box will be provided at the security desk counter for clients to drop off their documents with receipts for processing.
“In order for people to be able to use the online registry facility or lodge applications online, they need to create an online account.
“Do this by going to www.ipa.gov.pg and select ‘Register a New User’ on the side bar on the homepage.
“Once you have a user account, your dashboard will now have the features to register businesses. To maintain or to update a business name or a company record, you need to have authority over the entity.
“Do this by logging into your online user account, click on ‘online services’, search the entity and when it’s displayed, click on it and select the option ‘request authority’.
“Ensure that you upload an authorisation letter from the company director or business name owner if you’re not the owner.”