When establishing or running an agribusiness in United Kingdom, it’s important to ensure you’ve met all the legal requirements. Our legal team specialises in helping small agribusinesseswith all their legal needs, from contracts to intellectual property protection and privacy. Get in touch today!
To establish an agribusiness in the UK, you will need to prepare and register a variety of legal documents. Key requirements include:
- Registering your business name with Companies House (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house).
- Obtaining Employers' Liability Insurance and business insurance (e.g. public liability, professional indemnity).
- Securing Local Authority approval (if operating from a commercial premise) and a lease agreement (if renting premises).
- Having Health and Safety policies and procedures in place, compliant with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines (https://www.hse.gov.uk/).
- Complying with privacy and data protection policies and procedures, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (https://ico.org.uk/).
- Registering for a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number and, if applicable, for Value Added Tax (VAT) with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs).
- Supply Agreement: if you're working with suppliers for your business, it's important that you capture the details of your arrangement in writing. This will help clarify key roles and responsibilities of parties, as well as set out a clear dispute resolution process.
If you're under a company structure, you'll need to register your agribusiness with Companies House through a specific process. You'll also need to register your business name (it shouldn't be identical to an existing one!).
Registering your company is a legal requirement under the Companies Act 2006 and will allow you to fulfil your tax obligations.
Your IP is often the key to your business' success. In a software or technology business, it's important to keep your IP secure. To effectively protect your creative works, you'll need to understand the type of IP you intend to keep secure and the specific process required.
Copyright protection applies automatically to creative, original works in the United Kingdom (however, you may still wish to display copyright disclaimers for clarity!).
For further legal protection, you can also register a trade mark with IP United Kingdom. This lists your IP on an online register and prevents other people from using it - so it's officially and legally yours.
There is also the option to patent your IP, but there is a very specific criteria for doing so. Our IP lawyers can guide you through your options.
