Obtaining a Czech business license

 
After the founding deed is executed, the members of the company’s statutory body need to obtain the trade license at the Trade License Office unless the company’s business activity includes only management of own property, letting of real estate, residential units and non-residential units or a special permit is required. The administration fee for obtaining the trade license at the Trade License Office amounts to CZK 1,000 (EUR 40).
 

Corporate Governance

 
The founders could choose between the monistic and dualistic model of corporate governance. In case of former, the company establishes a Board of Directors and a Supervisory Board. The Board of Directors is in charge of the management of the company’s business. The Supervisory Board supervises the exercising powers by the Board of Directors.
 
In case of later, the company has only an Administrative Board that determines the basic orientation of the management of the company’s business and supervise its proper execution. The Administrative Board elects a statutory director who is responsible for management of the company’s business. The chairman of the Administrative Board could also be the company’s statutory director.
 
All the above-mentioned company’s bodies could have only one member.
 

Shares

 
There are two types of shares in the joint-stock company, i.e. shares with no special rights (ordinary shares) and shares with special rights (such as different or fixed profit shares or different vote weightings shares). The so-called no par value shares are shares that have nominal value.
 

Registered capital and payment of contributions into the registered capital

 
The minimum amount of the registered capital of the joint-stock company is CZK 2,000,000 (EUR 73,000).
 
A shareholder’s contribution into the company’s registered capital may take either monetary or in-kind form whereas all contributions are administered by contribution administrator who is usually one of the founders. Monetary contributions are deposited to a special bank account identified in the Articles of Association. The value of in-kind contributions is determined by the expert chosen by the founders from the official list of experts.
 
Before submitting the application for registration of the company into the Commercial Register, each founder must pay up at least the share premium and all the founders must further pay up in aggregate at least 30% of nominal value of the subscribed shares. All in-kind contributions must be fully paid.
 

Entry of the company into the Czech Commercial Register

 
The application for entry of the company into the Commercial Register could be either submitted by all the members of the company’s statutory body on the prescribed form with their officially verified signatures or the registration can be performed through the notary who can register the company into the Commercial Register directly. The application must be submitted to the competent court depending on the location of the company’s registered office within 6 months from the foundation of the company; otherwise the founding deed is considered as withdrawn. The founding deed may stipulate another period.
 

Court fee

 
The registration court fee equals to the amount of CZK 12,000 (EUR 450). The fee amounts to CZK 8,000 (EUR 300) only, if the registration is performed by the notary.
 

Documents to be presented in connection with company formation in Czech Republic

 
Irrespective whether the application is submitted by the company’s members of the statutory body or through the notary, the following documents must usually be presented:
 
-          a notarial deed containing the founding deed,
 
-          a trade licence or licence for other type of business activity,
 
-          a deed attesting the legal basis for use of the premises at which the company’s registered office is situated, e.g. a written consent of the owner (such consent may not be older than 3 months and signatures on the document must be legally certified), together with decision of the company’s statutory body on the company’s registered office location,
 
-          a document attesting the fulfilment of the obligation to pay at least statutory minimum contributions into the registered capital. This fact could be proved by a declaration of the contribution administrator and confirmation from the bank that the relevant monetary sums have been credited to the bank account of the company,
 
-          documents attesting the fact that persons who are to be registered as members of the company’s bodies satisfy the requirements set forth by law, i.e. that they are at least 18 years old, have legal capacity, are without a criminal record related to the business, and that there are no impediments to their operating of a trade in accordance with the Trades Licensing Act and other legal regulations (such as an affidavit concerning such facts and an extract from the criminal record or equivalent document issued by the relevant authority of the EU Member State in which they were last residents in the case of citizens from another than U Member State)
 
-          the consent of the person being registered to their registration in the Commercial Register (members of the company’s statutory body),
 
-          the decision on the appointment of the chairman of the Board of Directors, chairman of the Supervisory Board, chairman of the Administration Board or statutory director, if applicable.
 

Forms

 
The necessary forms for entering the company into the Commercial Register can be found in Czech on the website of the Commercial Register at the Czech Ministry of Justice. Documents presented to the Commercial Register must be in Czech, including all their attachments; any deeds in a foreign language must have a legally certified translation unless it is drawn up in one of the official languages of the European Union (in that case a simple translation is sufficient). For certain types of foreign deeds (e.g. an extract from a criminal register or commercial register) a special form of higher authentication is required, one that certifies the authenticity of the issuing authority, generally identified as an apostille or ‘super-legalisation’, depending on whether the country issuing the deed is a signatory to the so-called Hague Apostille Convention.
 
The statutory deadline for registration of the new Czech company is five working days from submission of the application. If, within this period, the court does not register the company or request additional documents from the applicants, the company is considered as registered. The notary can register the company into the Commercial Register almost immediately.
 
In order to submit an application to the Commercial Register or Trade Register, it is not mandatory to be represented by a lawyer. Nonetheless, with respect to fulfilment of formal requirements, we recommend that an attorney-at-law is engaged.
 
After the new Czech company is registered in the Czech Commercial Register you can check the registration at the web page of the Czech Ministry of Justice and the company shall ensure for all mandatory registration at the Czech Financial Authority.
 

Czech Data Box

 
The board members of the new Czech company will receive access details to the data box. The Czech data box is an electronic storage site used for delivery of official documents and for communication with Czech public authorities. Data boxes are established and managed by the Czech Ministry of Interior. A data box is not obligatory for citizens and private individuals who carry out business activities. Establishment of a data box is obligatory for all Czech legal entities. A document (data message), which is delivered to a data box, is delivered at the moment the authorised individual logs into the data box. The fiction of delivery applies in case of data box. if you do not log-into your data box within a time limit of 10 days from the day the document was delivered to the data box, this document is considered delivered on the last day before elapse of this time limit. Delivery of the document has the same legal effects as personal delivery. You can see for more information There is more information available Datove schranky, unfortunately in Czech only.
 

Delivery of access data to the Czech Data Box abroad

 
Access data can only be sent to following countries, which allows the delivery service exclusively to the addressee's own hands. In the event that the Authorized Person (eg Company board member) has an address of residence in one of the countries that do not allow the service to be delivered solely to the addressee, a data box and access rights are created, but an explanatory letter is sent to that person. stating the reasons why access data cannot be sent. This letter also includes a proposal for how to obtain access data using Czech POINT at embassies of the Czech Republic.
 
In such cases, the recipient of a letter at the Czech POINT office will ask the embassy to revoke the original access data and issue new ones. The application will specify the e-mail address to which the activation link is sent. With its help and using the data in the application confirmation, it then collects new access data to its data box on its computer (see instructions for collecting access data using the so-called virtual envelope).
 
For more information, please contact:
 
JUDr. Mojmír Ježek, Ph.D.
Managing partner
 
ECOVIS ježek, advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
Betlémské nám. 6
110 00 Prague 1
e-mail: mojmir.jezek@ecovislegal.cz
www.ecovislegal.cz/en

About ECOVIS ježek advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
The Czech law office in Prague ECOVIS ježek practices mainly in the area of Czech commercial law, Czech real estate law, representation at Czech courts, administrative bodies and arbitration courts, as well as Czech finance and banking law, and provides full-fledged advice in all areas, making it a suitable alternative for clients of international law offices. The international dimension of the Czech legal services provided is ensured through past experience and through co-operation with leading legal offices in most European countries, the US, and other jurisdictions. The Czech lawyers of the ECOVIS ježek team have many years of experience from leading international law offices and tax companies, in providing legal advice to multinational corporations, large Czech companies, but also to medium-sized companies and individual clients. For more information, go to www.ecovislegal.cz/en.

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