Legal advice international business

[GuyMor]

Hello

We are a small business seeking legal advice for international trade and contacts import/export.

Issue we found that solicitors charge so much we'll be bankrupt just got speaking to them. A small business like ours can't handle 1000s of pound for consultancy of that nature one the one hand but we also deal with customers and suppliers abroad for £50000-£250000. So far it all went ok but...

Do other small businesses find the same problem?

 

[Clickdocs]

Hi GuyMor

There's no doubt that solicitor fees are expensive, especially for small businesses. Have you looked at some of the business networks who provide support and advice? We offer members of Enterprise Nation a discount on our legal documents but they also have great resources for small businesses. They have a strong focus on helping UK businesses reach export markets. Maybe there's something there to help you.

 

[The Byre]

We do business in various EU countries and we have point-men for specific tasks in each country. We have addresses of builders, plumbers, lawyers, car mechanics, electronics engineers, whatever may come up, in each country we deal with.

Never in a million years, would I approach a UK lawyer or accountant, to ask about German or French property or import duties.

If you are dealing with Germany, you can PM me for specific answers to questions, as we have deep knowledge of that market.

 

[GuyMor]

Thank you @The Byre , we don't deal with property at all.

Our main questions we have at the moment are regarding:

1. Distribution agreements - legal aspects of this. What to look out for, draft a contract.
2. Importing from our Turkish suppliers - so far it has been OK, but we have a new issue that has arisen from a new supplier (Turkey as well) that company X is producing the goods, we liaise with them, the agreement is with them, and we also send the deposit to their account. Now the goods are ready to be shipped but the invoice has come under a different company name. They say it's the exporter's company. I'm not exactly sure what that means and if this can cause problems. It's just worries me that we pay company Y even though we liaise with company X the whole time.

Those are the kinds of questions we would have liked to ask a lawyer but sadly won't be able to afford it.

 

[The Byre]

Well, without going into details (that I know nothing about!) I would have thought that as long as any invoice clearly identifies the transaction and does so uniquely and you are being fully informed of the nature of the relationship between manufacturer an their export agency and you have performed the usual checks on both, all should be sweetness and light.

But if you want the manufacturer's name on the invoice, tell them that is what you want. You are, after all, the customer!

 

[GuyMor]

Thanks

What do you mean by

and you have performed the usual checks

What checks can I do on a Turkish company and how quickly can I do them? that would be very helpful!

I'm also not aware of the role of the export company. Maybe that's completely normal, or maybe that's not. We're a small business, from my perspective, I don't see any benefit having a sister export company to deal with our customers, but hey, we're new to this...

 

[The Byre]

Checks - credit, directors' history, turnover. But how you do that with Turkey I do not know!

Agencies - again, we deal with the EU and only where we can speak the language and understand the market. And one again, I am out of my depth, as we do not use agencies, either coming or going, though we have bought through agents in the past, but that was from the UK to Germany, so again, familiar territory.

I even asked my wife, who used to be a buyer for a large US company and she just told me that they always had people on the ground and bought direct.