One of the most difficult issues for many foreign companies is the question of how to start a business in Russia - in the form of a subsidiary, a branch of a foreign company or a representative office of a foreign company. First of all, in order to register a representative office in Russia it is necessary to determine the list of its activities. Key Legal lawyers are capable of asking right questions and offering solutions even for unusual/non-standard situations. We will help you to find the best solution and give recommendations to your company about the most convenient and legally correct form of doing business in Russia.

After the choice regarding the form of business is done it is necessary to prepare and correctly draw up a number of corporate documents, the first of which is the Decision to open a branch / representative office of a foreign company. Key Legal lawyers have many years of experience in registering foreign representative offices and branches in Russia. We will prepare a draft of the Decision for you taking into account all legal requirements. The Decision can be made both in Russian and in a foreign language with obligatory subsequent legalization in the territory of a foreign state and notarization in Russia. The procedure for registration (including the procedure for legalization) of the Decision depends on the law of the country of registration of the parent company and the existence or absence of an applicable international agreement between Russia and the country of registration of the parent company. Key Legal lawyers provide individual recommendations on how to file a Decision to open a branch / representative office of a foreign company in each individual case.

To register a business in Russia in either form you need to prepare and correctly draw up a list of documents. Key Legal lawyers will draw up a list of documents for you and also will give comments on each document of the list on its contents and order of registration.

The Head of the Branch / Representative Office of a foreign company carries out his/her functions in the territory of Russia on the basis of the Power of Attorney issued to him / her by the parent organization. The contents of the Power of Attorney, namely the breadth of authority of the Head of the Branch / Representative Office of a foreign company depends on many factors, such as the foreign company's internal policy, the needs of the foreign company, the degree of trust in the candidate for the Head and, of course, the requirements of Russian legislation. The Statute of the Branch / Representative Office is the main document regulating the activity of the Branch / Representative Office in Russia, its content and correctness of its provisions play a vital role for the existence of the Branch / Representative Office, for relations with personnel, government bodies and third parties. Key Legal lawyers will develop for your company a Power of Attorney for the Head and a Statute, taking into account individual characteristics, interests and needs of the company, as well as all the requirements of Russian legislation in force.

Key Legal has business connections with Moscow leading translation bureaus, as well as Key Legal lawyers themselves speak foreign languages, which allows us to accompany the procedure for translating and notarizing the translation of documents compiled and signed abroad at a high professional level and as soon as possible.

An obligatory step for the accreditation of a branch / representative office of a foreign company is the correct and competent filling in of the application form approved for each procedure. This formal stage is carried out by Key Legal lawyers and is worked out to automatism, which speeds up the process and makes it highly professional.

One of the current requirements of the Russian legislation when registering a foreign business in Russia in the form of a Branch or Representative Office is the mandatory approval of the number of employees of the Branch or the Representative Office in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (CCI of Russia). The duty extends to all Branches and Representations of foreign companies without excluding, even if there are no foreign employees in staff. Key Legal lawyers successfully accompany this procedure in the CCI of Russia.

The procedure for accreditation of a Branch or Representative Office, despite its formality, requires legal support and supervision by the lawyer carrying out this project, in particular at the stage of filing documents, during the consideration of documents by the tax authority, as well as when receiving documents. Key Legal lawyers will render such services with knowledge and a high quality.