Hi, this is our first article in a series on how to lawfully run a business. Let’s get straight into 6 legal steps to start e-commerce business.

1. Define the scope of business activity and your interests to protect

Answer, what kind of business you plan to start in Poland. What do you want to safeguard, how do you plan to win and what would be your competitive advantage. All your interests have their legal sides and a good lawyer will make difference in your favour.

2. Choose legal form of your activity

Typical forms for doing business include:

• running a business as a natural person (self-employed, individual business),
• partnerships (general partnership, professional partnership, limited partnership, limited joint-stock partnership),
• corporations (limited liability company and joint-stock company),
• branch offices of a foreign company,
• representative offices of a foreign company.

Next to formal requirements for each type of business, some type of activity might require additional permits.

3. Plan compliance with legal requirements by design

With respect to each aspect of your business, a good lawyer will identify all legal requirements and help you find the best way to meet them. These include not only taxes, accounting and social security, but also requirements like business registration, labor law, data protection, anti-competition, consumer law, telecommunications law and industry-specific norms. Planning full compliance in advance saves you risks, stress, time and effort.

4. Start activity and implement all plans

Once you register with all applicable authorities, there are many tasks you can now fulfill. Conclude contracts with your partners, accountant, office landlord, IT providers, implement your plans to comply with law, publish relevant terms, conditions and policies for your clients, register trademarks, safeguard your copyrights. And don’t forget to this is just to set secure framework for running your business smoothly.

5. Train your personnel and ensure internal compliance

By this point, you might have already adopted internal policies, procedures and concluded contracts to be followed. Make sure they do not get lost in a drawer and forgotten. Make sure your employees and associates are properly trained, formally obliged and actually comply with your internal standards and requirements.

6. Keep your legal solutions flexible and up-to-date

Legal norms and case law change often, so after some time, your compliance efforts might become outdated. Also, in this starting phase of your business, you will often encounter new thoughts, initiatives as well as failures and risks. That is why next to good planning, we strongly recommend flexibility and quick reaction to timely turn all the challenges into your advantage.

What were other legal issues you need to solve? Leave a message and let us know your questions.