Cyprus offshore company : Business Environment

Unless a company is seeking to provide banking, insurance, financial or investment advisory services from Cyprus or undertake professional or medical services, there are no licences or permissions.

The registration of companies and other legal entities, as well as their mode of operation, is governed by the Companies Act 1968-1995, as amended by the House of Representatives as part of the harmonisation with the corresponding Community directives on company law.

Within this legal framework, interested investors may set up the following legal entities:

• companies (private or public);
  general or limited partnerships;
  a European company (SE);
• branches offices;
• a trade name

A Cypriot company can either be a private company established by one or more persons or a public company established by any seven or more persons who cooperate for any legal purpose and form a limited liability company, by signing the Memorandum of Association and by complying with the provisions of the Cyprus Companies Law