CAC Document Upload Portal – The Use of EDMS (2023)

Are you having issues accessing the CAC document upload portal to upload relevant documents for business names, companies, or even incorporated trustees?. This guide will walk you through everything you need to understand about the CAC EDMS and the E- Certificate.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is a regulatory body, established to regulate the incorporation, running, and winding up of companies, business names, and incorporated trustees, by CAMA.

At the end of 2020, CAC made an important upgrade which resulted in some changes on its website that affected the document upload system. The official CAC website for registrations was changed from cac.gov.ng to pre.cac.gov.ng

Before the introduction of the EDMS, proprietors were usually required to upload the following documents on the document upload portal (for business name registrations) with the use of the availability code.

Availability Search / Notice of Approval

Payment Receipt for Reservation

Payment Receipt for Business Names

However, the introduction of the EDMS has made work much easier as proprietors will not have to go over the stress of downloading and uploading all these documents again.

CAC Document Upload Portal – The Use of Electronic Document Management System

The electronic document management system (EDMS) is a system for receiving, organizing, tracking, and storing different kinds of documents. This type of system is an efficient storage system that helps users to organize and store paper or digital documents.

EDMS refers to a software system that handles digital documents as well as scanned versions of original paper documents.

The electronic document management system provides a way to centrally store a large volume of digital documents and reduces paper. The system also includes features for efficient document retrieval

One major advantage of the EDMS is that it allows users to directly upload their documents on the portal during registration/Incorporation or filing of post-incorporation processes. Without having to log in to a separate document upload portal.

It is believed that this will optimize the registration and filling process, save time and make the Company Registration Portal more user-friendly.

The specific documentation for original storage protocols is a major part of what makes an electronic document management system so valuable and why it has been chosen to make the use of the portal easy and efficient

Why EDMS?

• With the former system, customers have to logout and login to a separate site to upload their document
• With EDMS integrated into the new system, customers will upload documents directly on their portal while filling out the registration.
• Customers will no longer require to download documents sign them before uploading.
• Signatures, passport photos where necessary are now easily uploaded directly during registration within the same portal.

Below is the new CAC Document Upload Portal With The Electronic Document Management System (EDMS)

The link to the document upload section with EDMS now looks like this https://pre.cac.gov.ng/company-registration/business-name-documents

List of CAC Documents to Upload For Business Name Registration

Below is the list of documents you are required to upload for business name registration with the use of the EDMS system

1. Means of Identification (PDF)

Your means of Identification must be PNG format. The following Identity Cards are allowed (Choose just one of them)

• Voters Card (Plastic)
• National ID Card (Paper is allowed)
• International Passport
• Declaration of Age
• Birth Certificate

Before uploading any of these ID Cards, ensure to scan them properly, they should be visible enough to be seen. I recommend you visit a nearby cafe to get the best results

If you are using a Voters card, scan the ID back and front and merge it together (You can use Corel Draw to merge)

2. Signature of the Proprietor (JPG, PNG, IMAGE)

Sign your signature on a white plain paper using a blue pen, it should be bold and visible enough. You can use your phone camera to snap it or better still, use a scanner if possible. Proceed and upload it on the EDMS portal

3. Passport Photograph (JPG, PNG, IMAGE)

The most recent passport photograph is preferred, scan it with a scanner and upload it respectively in the column provided above. Please ensure that all uploaded documents are not above 5MB in size.

4. Others (PNG)

This column is for any other document that could be relevant to be business or company you are trying to register. It is optional.

Read Also: Benefits of Registering A Business Name with CAC

What Happens After Submission of CAC Documents?

Once you have submitted the required documents for business name registration, preview the work you have done and make payment.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) will use the uploaded documents to treat your application, the certificate will be generated and all the relevant documents will be certified.

To check the status of your application,

• Log in and on your dashboard, click on the status on your profile page. This will show you the status of your application if it’s not submitted check on the transaction history and click on each of them until it is finally submitted
• If the application is accepted and the registration complete, the company’s registration number will be displayed in the registration number column.
• When you see your (BN) Business number and the status shows approved, you can then proceed and download your certificate online with the corresponding documents. (you don’t have to go to the CAC office to do this).

Once your business status starts showing Inactive after a long period of time, it means you have not filed your yearly Annual Returns

Introducing E-Certificate

As mentioned earlier, the recent CAC upgrade came with a lot of exciting features, one of them happens to be the introduction of the E certificate.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has introduced and adopted the issuance of an E-Certificate as against the former manual system where customers have to walk into the Commission to pick up the certificate of registrations and incorporation of all entities.

With the E Certificates, you don’t have to travel all the way to the CAC office to get your certificates, you can simply log in to your account and print out the certificate from your dashboard

How The E-Certificate Works

Upon completion of the registration of any entity on the portal, your registration is approved by the Commission seamlessly, the certificate is automatically generated to your dashboard where you can download at your convenience.

Notable changes were made to the certificate.

• The CAC logo at the top is now changed to the Nigerian Coat of Arms for all entities.
• The CAC logo is moved down to the bottom of the certificate as a seal.
• For Incorporated Trustee, the notes and caution on the certificates are removed.

Below are copies of the new E-certificate for all entities, Business name, Incorporated Trustees and Companies

Incorporated Trustee Sample

Business Name Sample

Company Sample

Incorporated Trustee Sample

The system has been improved to make registration faster and seamless with the integration of EDMS

How To Get CAC Certificate (Online)

CAC did not like the idea of people going to their office on a regular basis to collect certificates and also, that  contributed to the introduction of the E-Certificate

With the introduction of the E-Certificates, you don’t have to travel all the way to the CAC office to get your certificate.

You can get your CAC certificate online, simply login to your account and print out the certificate from your dashboard.

CAC Certificate PDF

Once you have downloaded out the CAC certificate online, it will come in PDF format so all you have to do is print it out.

Read Also:

How to File CAC Annual Returns

How Profitable is POS Business in Nigeria?

Conclusion: CAC Document Upload Portal – The Use of EDMS

Conclusively, the Introduction of the EDMS on the CAC document upload portal has been a massive development from CAC. You can upload relevant documents without having to visit a different website like before. With EDMS you can also do all these without having to use the availability code.

The E- Certificate is another good initiative from CAC that has earned them applauds. The E-Certificate is an opportunity for people to download certificates online without having to go to the CAC office.