Doing business
The most common types of companies operating in Ukraine are limited liability companies (LLC), public joint stock companies (PJSC), and private joint stock companies (PrJSC). The key difference between PJSC and PrJSC is that the former may conduct a public offering where shares are offered to more than 100 natural and/or legal entities, other than to the shareholders of the company, and the issuer's existing shareholders do not have the right of first refusal in respect of the floated shares. A PrJSC, on the other hand, is only allowed to offer its shares through private placement.
In addition to the above company types, other types of legal entities exist in Ukraine such as private enterprises, cooperatives, associations, additional liability companies, etc. But in practice, these forms are rarely used for investment projects.
The most popular form of business organization in Ukraine is a limited liability company (tovarystvo z obmezhenoiu vidpovidalnistiu), which is approximately equivalent to LLC in Great Britain or GmbH in Germany. An LLC has the advantage of being a very flexible form of business organization that can be used at a minimum cost to procure registration within one week.
In some cases, you first need to obtain certain licenses to start a business (for example, when setting up a financial institution) — you can find further details of the legal requirements for the types of newly created businesses
Procedures for state registration of legal entities are regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations”.
In some cases certain licenses are required to start a business and the list of economic activities subject to licensing is determined by the Law of Ukraine “On Licensing of Economic Activities”
The conditions for obtaining licenses can be found at the following links
- Licensing of financial services
- Licensing of television and radio broadcasting is carried out in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”
- Licensing of production and trade of ethyl alcohol, cognac and fruit and grain distillate, bioethanol, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products and fuel, fuel storage is carried out in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On State Regulation of Production and Circulation of Ethyl Alcohol, Cognac and Fruit Alcohol, Alcohol Beverages, Tobacco Products and Fuel”
- Procedure for obtaining the license for the production of ethyl, cognac and fruit alcohol, rectified grape ethyl alcohol, rectified fruit ethyl alcohol, grape alcohol distillate, raw fruit alcohol, alcoholic beverages
- Procedure for obtaining the license for electricity generation
- Procedure for obtaining the license for carrying passengers, dangerous goods and hazardous waste by sea and river transport
- Procedure for obtaining the license for the distribution of electricity (transmission of electricity by local electricity networks)
- Procedure for obtaining the license for tour operator activities
- Procedures for obtaining the license for firefighting activities
The resource “Effective Regulation Platform”, administered by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, provides additional information on business start-up procedures in many areas: from energy, agriculture and retail, to medicine, education and IT.