Legal document translations, and, namely, business and corporate document translations, come in handy when doing business overseas. In order to avoid tax liability and to garner other financial and legal benefits, many individuals and companies choose to take advantage of starting an offshore business. An offshore company is one that is registered – and thus located – in a different country. Typically small countries, particularly islands and developing regions, create tax incentives to entice businesses to locate there – at least on paper…

Although every country has their own unique rules and requirements for
forming a corporation, most include creating a deed of formation (or
registration) that includes such information as:

Business name and company seat

Type of activity

Duration of the company, if limited

Amount of share capital, how it was raised, the nominal value of the shares and their number, indicating whether they are registered shares or bearer shares

Number of and rights associated with specific share types

Names and addresses of founders

Structure of the governing and supervisory bodies.

(Taken from Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor, Poland and the Baltic States)

However, when registering a business in a foreign country, one often runs into the issue of foreign language. As most laws require a deed to be filed in the language of the country, a foreign language translation – both of the legal forms and the deed itself – must be included.

To read our earlier legal translation blog entry “Document Translation, Attorney-Client Privilege and Foreign Companies in U.S. Courts”, click here. To read “Legal Translation and Asserting a Money Laundering Defense in the International Arbitration Setting”, click here. And to read our legal translation company’s blog entry “Corporate Translation Services and International Arbitration”, click here.

To read our legal translation blog post “Spanish Legal Translations, English-Spanish Translation for In-House Law Departments, and Purchasing Real Estate in Mexico”, click here.

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and the Language Barriers
While Flying