Under recent changes to the Corporations Act, company directors need to verify their identity as part of a new director identification number (director ID) requirement.  A director ID is a single identifier which is unique to a particular director.  The person must apply for a director ID once and will keep that number for all companies.

New and existing directors must apply for a director ID in accordance with the following timetable:

• Directors appointed to companies between 1 November 2021 and 4 April 2022 must apply within 28 days of their appointment.
• Existing directors have until 30 November 2022 to apply.
• From 5 April 2022, intending directors must apply before being appointed.

The system is to be administered by the new Australian Business Registry Services.

For more information on the scheme, ASIC’s guidance is available here.