Foreign investors seeking for one of the best Filipino industries to set up a business have several choices. There are the industries which require a significant and less pocket-friendly ones, but there are also sectors such as retail where one can establish a company without too much money. Those who want to open shops in the Philippines are advised to set up e-commerce businesses which imply lower setup and maintenance costs.
Below, our Philippines company registration advisors explain how you can create an e-commerce company in this country.
E-commerce legislation in the Philippines
There are several rules which must be respected by e-commerce companies operating on the Philippines market and which must be known by the investors who want to open this type of business.
The laws to be respected when starting an e-commerce business in the Philippines are:
– the Electronic Commerce Law of 2000, which is the main act governing the activities of such companies;
– the Administrative Order No. 8 related to the protection of personal information;
– the Rules and Regulations for Consumer Protection as prescribed by the Consumer Law.
The Company Law must also be respected when starting an online store in the Philippines.
Our company formation consultants in the Philippines can explain these rules and can advise on the suitable type of entity for establishing an e-commerce company.
Steps to open an e-commerce business in the Philippines
There are a few compulsory steps related to starting a Philippines e-commerce company. The first one is the company formation procedure which implies drafting and filing the incorporation documents of the business with the Trade Register.
Following that, the business owner must:
– choose and register a domain name for the company;
– create or hire a company to create the website which will include an e-commerce platform;
– set up a merchant account through which online payments will be processed.
According to the E-commerce Law, the website must display the name of the company, a valid email address and phone number, as well as the registered address of the company. Foreign investors can choose a virtual office as a registered address for their companies in the Philippines.
For assistance in opening an e-commerce business, do not hesitate to contact our Philippines company formation specialists.
Foreign nationals can choose to move to the Philippines for business purposes, however, they should know that specific conditions are in place for this purpose. Firstly, they need to obtain a visa that will allow them to remain in the country for the medium-term (most often, a temporary resident visa). Their stay will need to become a permanent one in time and their country of origin would need to allow the same rights to Filipino nationals.