E-Commercial Register?
In 2007, the Company Registration Portal of the electronic Commercial Register (in Estonian äriregistri ettevõtjaportaal) was introduced in Estonia in order to facilitate the foundation of companies and the performance of other necessary procedures in the register. Since then, the paper-free business administration environment has undergone a number of technical improvements, making the portal more user-friendly and offering additional possibilities to submit information and documents to the register without leaving the office.

Today, due to wider scope of the portal’s functions, it is possible not only to establish a private limited company online, but also to undertake routine changes in corporate entries that earlier involved notarised applications. The latest step in the trend towards reducing bureaucracy in daily corporate governance is the requirement to submit annual reports only through electronic channels, effective as of 2010.

As a sign of increasing openness to foreign entrepreneurs, the portal has become accessible to persons holding a Finnish, Belgian, or Portuguese ID-card, or a Lithuanian mobile ID. For others, the portal is accessible using the electronic access codes to the company’s bank account opened at any of the bigger banks in Estonia.

The Company Registration Portal of the electronic Commercial Register in English is located at: https://ettevotjaportaal.rik.ee/index.py?chlang=eng.
Our specialist partner Karina Paatsi heads the firm’s corporate and employment practice. Karina possesses wide-ranging expertise in matters concerning the legal regulations specifying the employer-employee relationship and disputes thereof. She also provides legal advice in daily corporate governance and contract law matters assisting share and shareholder transactions, mergers, divisions and takeovers. Karina’s recent track record includes assisting the establishment of a joint company between German affiliate of Helsinki listed Outotec and state owned Eesti Energia. The function of the newly established company is to hold intellectual property rights and commercialize innovative oil shale processing technology Enefit. She has also advised many corporations on collective agreements, service agreements with design and creative people and documentation associated with new Estonian Employment law regulations.