New rules for establishing a representative office of a foreign business | In Principle

Amendments to the Business Freedom Act and the Treasury Fees Act concerning establishment and registration of foreign representative offices in Poland went into effect on 1 January 2012.

The key changes in the rules concerning representative offices are as follows:

• The treasury free for entry in the Register of Representative Offices of Foreign Businesses was cut from PLN 6,713 to PLN 1,000.
• Establishment of a representative office by a foreign bank or credit institution (as defined in the Banking Law) no longer requires entry in the Register of Representative Offices.
  
• An application to register a representative office no longer requires submission of a separate declaration by the foreign business on establishment of a representative office in Poland.
  
• An application to register a representative office must now include the address of the headquarters of the representative office in Poland where original documents concerning the operations of the representative office will be maintained.
  
• An official copy of a document confirming the registration of the foreign business on the basis of which the business conducts its operations, submitted with the application to register the representative office, must be certified through apostille or legalisation (unless, pursuant to treaty, an apostille clause is not required).
  

The amendments have greatly simplified the registration procedure and are expected to encourage foreign companies to use the representative office more extensively as a vehicle for doing business in Poland.

Łukasz Śliwiński, Corporate Law, Restructuring and Business-to-Business Contracts practices, Wardyński & Partners