Trade Accelerator Voucher
Through their First Stop Shop service, InterTradeIreland is providing up to date information for carrying out cross border business for small businesses registered in both the North and South of Ireland in the following areas:
- Legal & Tax Advice
- Sales & Marketing Advice
- Financial Advice
- Regulatory Advice
- Cross-border Trade Statistics & Sectoral Reports
- As part of this Service they are offering Trade Accelerator Voucher to the value of £1,000 or €1,200 to assist small businesses that are looking professional advice in various areas, including taxation or employment law.
The Trade Accelerator Voucher enables small business to have access to the expertise of legal, accountancy or marketing firms both in the North and South of Ireland. This Voucher is redeemable against the cost of practical advice and expertise on specific issues.
- Is your Business Eligible for the Trade Accelerator Voucher?
- Company must be a registered company.
- Company must be a Small business (25 employees or less)
- Annual turnover must not exceed €5m / £4.5m
- Assistance requested must be related to cross border trade and business
- Company must be a manufacturing or an internationally tradable service company
The Application Process
- Complete an Application Form available from http://www.intertradeireland.com/firststopshop/tradeacceleratorvouchers/business/
- Your application will be assessed and upon approval you will be notified immediately. You will only be able to have one active voucher at any time that is non-transferable.
- Once notified if approval you will be issued with Terms of Reference to be completed with the Service Provider of your choice.
Legal Advice for Northern based small companies considering doing business in the South
- Define the jurisdiction of your Contract in your Terms and Conditions of Sale / Service.
- Determine if you need new or extended Insurance Cover to ensure your proposed business activity is covered in the South of Ireland.
- Would your company comply with specific licence or regulatory requirements and standards of the Republic of Ireland?
- If your business is in the Construction, Electrical or Hotel industry or is another industry covered by the Register of Employment Agreements you will be required to pay the higher rates of pay and pension contributions required under these agreements.
- Familiarise yourself with the Republic of Ireland’s different Employment Law obligations.
- An alternative to setting up a base in the South could be expanding your business by using a Distributor or an Agent. If this is an option for your business, you may be interested in InterTradeIreland’s Acumen programme.
- Separate Professional Indemnity Insurance will more than likely be needed for your services in the South of Ireland if your business is in the professional services industry.
- Check your Employer’s Liability Insurance Cover includes employees who will be working in the South of Ireland. As an employer you also need to be aware of your different legal obligations in the South under the PIAB Act 2003 and the Civil Liability & Courts Act 2004.
- Ensure you familiarise yourself with the different Landlord and Tenant obligations if you intend to lease or purchase a business premises in the South. Also when buying a property ensure you are aware of the Stamp Duty payable on property purchase and the penalties for any late payment.
- At the beginning put the necessary measures in place to enable to allow you to recover trade debts in the South of Ireland and you need to consider which jurisdiction you should sue in if it is necessary to issue Proceedings against a bad debtor in the South.
Legal Advice for Southern based small companies considering doing business in the North
- Define the jurisdiction of your Contract in your Terms and Conditions of Sale / Service.
- Determine if you need new or extended Insurance Cover to ensure your proposed business activity is covered in Northern Ireland.
- Would your company comply with specific licence or regulatory requirements and standards of Northern Ireland? For example would your product meet with required Consumer/Health & Safety Standards? For additional information on this visit www.consumerline.org and the website of the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), www.bis.gov.uk.
- Employer’s Liability in Northern Ireland is compulsory unless your business is specifically exempted under the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004.
- Familiarise yourself with Northern Ireland’s different Employment Law obligations especially with the Statutory Disciplinary & Grievance Regulations, where an employer can be liable to pay a “top-up” of up to 50% on an Award of compensation against them if they do not comply with statutory procedures.
- An alternative to setting up a base in Northern Ireland could be expanding your business by using a Distributor or an Agent. If this is an option for your business, you may be interested in InterTradeIreland’s Acumen programme.
- Separate Professional Indemnity Insurance will more than likely be needed for your services in Northern Ireland if your business is in the professional services industry.
- Check your Employer’s Liability Insurance Cover includes employees who will be working in Northern Ireland as it is essential they are covered by insurance that applies to Northern Ireland Health and Safety Law. It is important to note that the procedures in the PIAB Act 2003 do not apply in Northern Ireland. Additionally the period within which a claim for Personal Injury must be made is 3 years in Northern Ireland.
- Ensure you familiarise yourself with the different Landlord and Tenant obligations if you intend to lease or purchase a business premises in Northern Ireland.
- At the beginning put the necessary measures in place to enable to allow you to recover trade debts in Northern Ireland and you need to consider which jurisdiction you should sue in if it is necessary to issue Proceedings against a bad debtor in Northern Ireland.
Further information can be found in InterTradeIreland’s book, A Simple guide to Cross Border Business which can be found using the following link: http://www.intertradeireland.com/media/3899%20ITI%20Simple%20Guide%20To%20Cross%20Border%20Trade%20WEB-1.pdf
General Information
A written contract is advisable in all cross border sales as they are important in defining matters such as the liabilities of Distributor or Sales Agents or whether Courts in Northern Ireland or Ireland have jurisdiction etc.
It is important to obtain written confirmation from your insurer to ensure your vehicles and drivers are insured to drive in the other jurisdiction.
If your goods are sold through a Distributor in the other jurisdiction and are defective, they will generally be required to be liable for them. This would be subject to the Distributor being entitled to indemnity from the seller for those defective products.
If you sell goods that are defective through a Sales Agent you are liable for them under legislation in both jurisdictions.
If you intend to employ a Sales Agent you should obtain legal advice to help you draft up a contract as there are a number of issues that should be covered. For example: duty of Agent to comply with employers reasonable instructions; duty of agent to relay relevant information to employer; employer to provide relevant information to help the Agent in his duties; remuneration of agent – entitlement to commission etc.
If you intend to appoint a Distributor you need to examine what type of Distributorship you want: Exclusive Distributorship, a Sole Distributorship, a Non-Exclusive Distributorship or a Selective Distributorship. It is essential legal advice is taken when drawing up an agreement with a Distributor as there are a number of areas that need covered: Agreement to supply product; Clear order and delivery procedures; Passing of risk; Minimum sales targets; Reservation of intellectual property rights; Competition and restraint of trade – the supplier may wish to prevent the distributor from manufacturing or distributing products which compete with the contract products for a period after termination etc.
It is essential that a legal agreement is set up when entering a joint partnership to ensure the nature of the joint venture is set out, e.g. if it is a Company; Partnership; or a form of Contractual joint venture. This is important as each arrangement will be taxed differently. Furthermore it is important an agreement is in place in case there is a breakdown in relationship between the different parties.
