Establishing a Business

Establishing a Business
According to the IFC-World Bank 2008 Doing Business Report, Kyrgyzstan ranked 49th out of 178 countries in starting a business in 2008. In order to ease the opening of a business, the Kyrgyz Government introduced a “one-stop-shop” designed to facilitate the procedure for registration of business entities. Now, legal entities can register a business just by going to the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic. State registration of a legal entity is performed free of charge within 10 business days from the date on which an application with all supporting documentation is submitted to the registering authority. In case of failure to hear a reply within the ten days the application is deemed granted.

A variety of organizational legal forms of legal entities exist in the Kyrgyz Republic, the most common being:

• Limited liability companies
• Joint stock companies (open or closed).

Branches and Representative Offices

Branches and representative offices of foreign companies do not belong to legal entities of the Kyrgyz Republic. They are endowed with property of legal entities that have founded them, and act on the basis of the approved bylaws. Legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic distinguishes between branches and representative offices. Functions of representative offices are limited to representation of a foreign legal entity and protection of its interests, performance of transactions and other legal actions on its behalf. Branches, on the other hand, are in the position to perform all functions of the foreign legal entity or part of these functions, including the function of representation.

To find the most current necessary documentation and full description of business establishment procedures click here.