BUSINESS LICENSE LAW MODIFIED AGAIN UNDER THE LAW OF SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Companies applying for a business license must demonstrate that they have an adequate infrastructure to support the activity. The law specifies that the infrastructures necessary to the business activity include facilities and materials adapated to the type and the scale of the business activity. The company must also have appropriate administrative and technical structures for these activities. All documents relating to the company's activities (including accounting documents and any documents related to personnel) must be made available. The manager must be present on a regular basis.

The law explicitly states that simply having a business address (in the sense of the modified law of May 31, 1999 on corporate residency) does not constitute an infrastructure adapted to business activities.

The new law explicity specifies that the services a company provides to other companies pertaining to the same group of companies does not require a business license. This administrative practice is new written into this law.

The Minister must rule on granting a business license within 3 months from the receipt of the full request dossier. If no response is received, this is considered to be a tacit authorization.

A new profession has been created: the "Advisor". This profession is available to those who possess a Bachelor degree (equivalent to the EU Bac +3). For example a person with a bachelor's degree in marketing can request authorization to become a "Advisor in marketing".

A new record was also created. This record contains the business license number for each company, the company name, its registered address, the activities which the company has permission to carry out and the name of the managing director. This record is available to the public online.

References: the law of September 2, 20122 (Memorial A number 198 of September 22, 2011).