Starting your own business from scratch is not as difficult as it seems. However, many aspiring entrepreneurs do not know where to start and what rules of commercial activity should be followed. A little advice: start with a quality education! At OPTIMA College, you can study all these aspects in the Business and Trade study programme. To help you understand the legal aspects of commercial activity today, we will share basic concepts and definitions. Let this post motivate you to run your business in accordance with all legal requirements.
Laws and liability
Ukraine has clearly established rules and regulations to govern commercial activities. There are many documents: national, regional, local, for specific cases and industries. All of them are officially published and available for review. First of all, we advise you to familiarise yourself with the main ones. These are the Commercial Code of Ukraine, the Law on Entrepreneurship, the Law on Taxation, as well as relevant resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers and other regulatory documents.
Compliance with the requirements of these laws is mandatory for all commercial entities. This is checked by state supervisory (control) authorities. Violations can lead to serious legal consequences, such as termination of business or even criminal liability. Remember that laws, rules, regulations and standards are constantly being updated and changed. You need to keep track of this on your own or engage experts.
Registration of activities
Every entrepreneur has to go through a mandatory registration procedure to legally conduct business in Ukraine or abroad. Before you start, you need to determine the form of ownership (legal entity or individual entrepreneur) and the taxation system (general or simplified taxation system).
To register, you need to collect the necessary documents, the list of which depends on the chosen form of ownership and type of commercial activity. After that, you need to submit an application and a set of documents to the relevant regulatory authorities.
Branding and trademark
Branding is not limited to a good marketing strategy, creating a logo and choosing a company name. It is also worth registering a trade mark (TM), which offers a number of advantages.
- The right to install a sign on a building, as well as to officially use direct advertising tools.
- The ability to obtain a domain for a website with a UA extension, which increases customer confidence and improves visibility in search engines.
- Permission to apply TM to your goods, even if they are produced by other companies on your behalf.
- Opportunity to sell franchises for additional income.
It is better to register a trademark before expanding your sales markets or conducting business under the jurisdiction of other countries.
Professional assistance
Most entrepreneurs immediately form a team of professionals to help with financial and legal management. For example, an accountant is responsible for accounting for taxes, contributions, reporting, payroll, maintaining accounts, drawing up acts and controlling payments. Their main area of responsibility is financial discipline.
A lawyer provides legal support to the business. He or she ensures that all agreements and contracts are properly drafted and safe for the company, helps to avoid legal risks and makes sure that commercial activities comply with all legal requirements.
Of course, you can entrust all the complex aspects to specialists, but it is advisable to have at least a general understanding of the specifics of doing business.
Details worth knowing
There are many important nuances in the field of commercial activity: from a competent analysis of the legal framework to the correct registration of a company. Mistakes lead to fines or even discourage you from doing business for many years. That is why it is worthwhile to understand all the details in advance. At OPTIMA College, commercial activity is one of the main disciplines in the speciality ‘Entrepreneurship and Trade’. Let's learn the most interesting things together!
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