Study of Small and Medium Enterprises in Azerbaijan - IFC

Box 4.3 General and specific documents required to issue a license
General documents:
a) Application form. The following shall be stated in the application form:
• for legal entities: its name, organizational and legal form, legal address, number of account and the name of the bank, type of activity;
• for natural persons – name, surname, patronymic name, information on identity card (series, number, the date of issue and issuing
authority, address), type of activity.
b) Copy of the state registration certificate of the legal entity;
c) Copy of the tax registration certificate;
d) Copy of a lease agreement or ownership certificate confirming the right to use the premises mentioned in the application;
e) Receipt confirming the payment of the state license fee.
Specific documents:
Subject to the type of activity specific documents are defined by the Cabinet of Ministers (i.e. Cabinet of Ministers’ Decree No. 174).
For example: to obtain a customs broker license, the applicant must also submit: (i) an official document which confirms that the applicant employs
certified customs clearance specialists; (ii) information confirming that an insurance contract has been concluded in connection with its activity and a
copy of the insurance contract; and (iii) information about the conditions which confirm that he/she can engage in customs brokerage.
4.3.1 Duration of the application process
Upon filing an application, the application itself and the accompanying documents
must be registered in a special journal kept by each license-issuing authority. After
review and absent any deficiencies or grounds for rejection, a decision to issue the
license must be adopted within fifteen days from the date of acceptance of the application.
If the documents are in any way deficient, the applicant should be informed of
the deficiencies in writing within five days. After the deficiencies are eliminated and
the documents are re-submitted, the new application is reviewed within five days, after
which an appropriate decision should be issued.
The survey data shows that in practice individual entrepreneurs spend on overage 10
days to obtain a license, while small and medium enterprises spend on average 15 days
(see Chart 4.3). However, to complete the licensing procedures whether within 10 or
15 days, requires entrepreneurs to use in some cases unofficial solutions 24 .
Chart 4.3
The number of days
required to receive a
license
(means days)
20
15
10
15
10
5
0
To receive a license by SME
To receive a license by IE
24
For further details see the next section.
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St u d y o f Sma l l a n d Me d i u m Ent e r p r i s es in Az e r b a i j a n