Registration of branches
and representatives offices
of international companies
in Russia.

  • Support on all stages of accreditation;
  • Online and offline consultations;
  • Assistance in English.
Leave a request.

In order to conduct of business in Russia international investors usually make a Limited Liability Companies (LLC), branch or representative office. Establishment of branch/representative office is performed according to the accreditation procedure, which is why it is more difficult and more expensive process for investors than LLC set up.

What are the branches and representative offices? What is the difference?

  • Representative office — is a part of foreign legal entity, which was established for representation and protection of its interests in other country. Representative offices make deals on behalf of foreign legal entity, control them, protect interests of the company. Usually, representative offices are established for non-commercial activity.
  • Branches have all functions like the representative offices but, in addition to them, it also could work as entrepreneurship (manufacture and sell goods, provide services, etc.).

Moreover, according to the legal view branches and representative offices are not legal entities.

Valentina Khlavich
Manager Partner
  • Licensed lawyer;
  • Graduated in University of Passau, Germany;
  • Foreign languages: English, German;
  • Lawyer in Beiten Burkhardt since 2007;
  • VALEN managing partner since 2012;

Listed in Best Lawyers since 2019.

What is included in service of branches and representative offices registration:

  • Consultations about accreditation;
  • Proposal of legal address and preparation of documents for its validation;
  • Applications drafting;
  • Submitting of a set of documents to The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation for certification of number of employees in branch/representative office of international legal entity;
  • Submission of a set of documents to Federal Tax Service of Russia №47 in Moscow;
  • Obtaining of the Certificate of record entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

Practice:

Case

A foreign company interested in expanding the scope of its commercial activities decided to enter the Russian market, and therefore applied to VALEN Group for assistance in setting up a limited liability company.

In addition to establishing a legal entity on the territory of the Russian Federation, it was necessary to provide the client with assistance in the subsequent employment of a foreign citizen as General Director of the established company in strict accordance with the rules of Russian employment and migration legislation, as well as to afterwards change the sole executive body of the LLC to a management company.

Besides, as soon as the Russian company was incorporated, the client expressed a desire to enter into a transaction for the purchase and sale of shares in the authorized capital of the established LLC, at that the buyers of the shares were 2 foreign citizens. Thus, the number of LLC members increased to 3.

Result

VALEN Group lawyers:

  • successfully registered a limited liability company;
  • collected and submitted the entire package of documents for obtaining permits necessary for legal employment;
  • prepared all the necessary documents for the change of the sole executive body to the management company;

provided full assistance in concluding the purchase and sale of shares.

Case

An international travel platform from Sweden, which was interested in expanding the scope of its commercial activities, has decided to enter the Russian market, and therefore has applied to VALEN Group for assistance in registering a limited liability company.

The case was sophisticated by the fact that the beneficiaries of the company planned to form a limited liability company with two foreign directors acting jointly, three members of the Board of directors, all of whom are foreign citizens.

Result

VALEN Group lawyers:

  • have prepared the constituent documents and the forms required for filing with the Federal Tax Service;
  • provided support for the client in the state body.
Case

A foreign company, which is a leader among manufacturers of components for commercial refrigeration equipment in the CIS countries, applied to VALEN Group with a request for accreditation of a representative office of this company, incorporated under the legislation of a foreign state, in order to legally carry out business activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The complexity of the entire accreditation process was due to the fact that the founders of the foreign company were persons who were not residents of the country of company’s incorporation, as well as due to significant restrictive measures taken in connection with the spread of coronavirus infection which have significantly complicated the entire process.

Result

VALEN Group lawyers:

  • prepared a comprehensive set of documents for the accreditation of the representative office in accordance with the requirements of the current legislation;
  • submitted a set of necessary documents to the authorized state executive authority;
  • received a document confirming the accreditation of the representative office, as well as all the necessary documents from the extra-budgetary funds of the Russian Federation;
  • performed actions to open a current account of the representative office in a Russian bank.

How prices are created:

  • the scope of activity of the head company (for some types of enterprises, for example, airlines, law established the specifics of branches accreditation (representative offices);
  • what language is needed for documents and conduct of the process;
  • provision of a legal address;
  • the amount of documents required for accreditation;
  • the need to certify the number of foreign employees of a branch (representative office).

Our clients and partners:

Подробнее о регистрации филиалов и представительств

  • State fee – 120 000 RUB or 1200 EUR;
  • The costs for certification of numbers of employes in CCI – 18 000 RUB or 180 EUR;
  • The costs for notary and translation services;
  • The costs for apostil for the documents.

Executed documents take much time. Itself registration takes 45 days (3-5 days for sending certification of numbers of employes in CCI and 25 working dais for registration in IFNS)

  • when there are not all documents in a set for accreditation;
  • when a set of documents was delayed;
  • when there is violation in processing of documents;
  • when inaccurate information was given;
  • when the aim of establishing branch or representative office is contradicts to the principals of Russian Constitution and Russian laws.

Despite the fact that accreditation procedure is not hard at first glance, its realization has many difficulties. The process of supplying requires a lot of specifics for signatures, stamps, apostilles, translations and content of documents. Violation in these procedures might be the reason for refusal in accreditation and the cost of state fee will not be returned.

Leading Lawyers

Valentina Khlavich
Managing Partner
Denis Bondarev
Head of Operations
Irina Girgushkina
Head of legal
Dmitry Kofanov
Partner
Valentina Khlavich
Managing Partner

Law degree in the Russian Federation

Studied at the University of Passau, Germany

Foreign Languages: English, German

Since 2007 a lawyer in Beiten Burkhardt lawfirm

Since 2012 founder and managing partner at VALEN

Our specialists
Denis Bondarev
Head of Operations

Graduated from People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN)

Certified Lawyer in the Russian Federation, Master of law (International law)

Foreign languages: English

5+ years of legal experience in consulting  lawfirms and inhouse practices

Since 2023 —Director of Operations at Valen Group

Our specialists
Irina Girgushkina
Head of legal

Graduated Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)

RANEPA at the President of the Russian Federation

Certified Lawyer in the Russian Federation, Master of Law (Corporate Law)

Foreign languages: English, French

4+ years in corporate law consulting

Since 2022 –Head of legal at Valen Group

Our specialists
Dmitry Kofanov
Partner

Certified Lawyer in the Russian Federation

Experience since 2003 – in Russian and foreign law firms

Since 2021 – partner at VALEN

Our specialists

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