To open a restaurant, engage in passenger transportation or found your own antique shop in Lithuania, you have to obtain a state license. Such a permit allows you to legally provide services or conduct activities on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania.
This license is an excellent tool for the state to protect the life, health and rights of consumers. If license-holding companies or individuals violate the requirements, or their activities may or do endanger people, the state will withdraw the license and make it impossible for the enterprise to continue operating in the country. That is why certain licenses confirm that a company or individual meets a number of state requirements, cares about consumers, and legally conducts its activities in a particular country.
Benefits of Obtaining a License in Lithuania
- Possibility of doing business in Lithuania. The company can legally provide services and conduct business in Lithuania.
- Possibility of doing business in the EU. A license for a certain type of activity in Lithuania gives the right to engage in a relevant business on the EU territory.
- Customer confidence. The company builds trusting relationships with its customers.
- Possibility of playing for high stakes. A licensed permit allows the company to cooperate with large customers, thus getting a high earning potential.
- Cooperation with EU companies. A license for a certain type of activity opens up an opportunity to cooperate with European companies and expand business in the EU countries.
Compulsory Licensing of Activities
Lithuania is licensing the following areas:
- Internal and external tourism;
- Hotel and restaurant activities;
- Physical education and sports;
- Wholesale and retail trade in alcohol and tobacco products;
- Import and export of agricultural products;
- Radio and television rebroadcasting;
- Television;
- Banking or activities of foreign bank subsidiaries;
- Investments;
- Employment of citizens in foreign countries;
- Logistics, cargo transportation;
- Trade in antiques;
- Gambling;
- Trade in medicines;
- Construction of various facilities;
- Insurance;
- Weapons and ammunition;
- Veterinary;
- other.
Companies may require certain types of licenses depending on what they do. And it is important to understand exactly what type your company needs. For example, there are three types of licenses for the sale of alcohol: for the sale of alcohol, alcoholic beverages with up to 22% strength, and alcoholic beverages with up to 8.5% strength (including beer and cider). Until 1 January 2020, seasonal licenses for the sale of alcohol were also distributed in Lithuania. However, since 2020, they have been cancelled, and the sale of alcoholic beverages on terraces located further than 40 metres from the institution has been prohibited. Alcohol trade was also prohibited on the beaches.
Therefore, it is important to follow the changes in legislation in the first place when starting and organising a licensed business in Lithuania. And also, if possible, first obtain professional legal advice to take into account all the twists, turns and innovations in the field.
Where to Get a License for a Certain Activity
Lithuania has a fairly organised system of state permits, however, as in most countries, has no single body to issue licenses for any activity.
There are many authorities in the country that issue licenses for a particular type of activity, for example:
- The State Inspectorate for Territorial Planning issues building permits;
- You need to apply to the Bank of Lithuania to obtain a license to operate a credit company, a permit for an electronic payment institution;
- The Lithuanian Financial Market Authority issues broker or Forex licenses;
- The Securities Commission can issue a license to operate investment partnerships, financial brokers, companies, ICVCs;
- The Ministry of Social Protection and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania issues licenses for mediation in employment;
- The State Commission for Control of Prices and Energy issues licensed permits for the transmission, storage, distribution of gas and for activities related to gas supply;
- The Ministry of Health can issue a license for the production, disposal and sale of medicinal substances, and the State Service for Control of Medicines under the Ministry issues licenses for pharmaceutical activities;
- It is necessary to obtain a license for the import and export of agricultural products from the National Payment Agency.
This is not a complete list of units and government organisations that issue licensed permits for certain activities in the country.
Considering all of the above, we can say that in order to obtain a permit for a certain type of activity in the Republic of Lithuania, you ought to have some legal expertise and show considerable involvement in the process. So, if you need a specific license and you don’t know how to obtain it in Lithuania, we recommend using the services of specialized companies. For example, Lano Solutions will help comprehend the issue, both through legal advice and with full involvement in the process, — it will help obtain license for an activity in the Republic of Lithuania, completing all the bureaucratic tasks step by step by power of attorney.
How to Get a License for an Activity in Lithuania
Depending on the scope of business and its activities, the process of obtaining a licensed permit has different peculiarities, based on a separate set of requirements for applicants, shareholders, the size of the authorized capital, as well as the list of required documents.
Let’s consider the process of obtaining a license for an activity with the example of obtaining a financial license in Lithuania.
Credit and payment companies, as well as electronic money institutions, ought to have a financial license in the Republic of Lithuania. Companies apply for licenses to the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania.
Stages of obtaining a financial license in Lithuania:
- Submitting an application to the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania;
- Evaluation of the submitted papers by the service within 5 working days;
- If everything is in order, the service accepts the application. In the event that certain documents or information is lacking, or the documents are not drawn up correctly, the service informs about it, and the procedure for submitting documents must be performed again, taking the remarks into account.
- Within three months after the final acceptance of the license application, the Service shall consider the application, evaluate the documents and forward the information to the Council of the Bank of Lithuania. It examines the company’s application and decides on whether to issue or deny the permit.
Before submitting documents for obtaining licenses and permits to the Bank of Lithuania, make sure that the company meets a number of requirements:
- The head office of the company is registered in Lithuania;
- Director of the company is the resident of Lithuania;
- The authorized capital ranges from EUR 20,000 for money transfer companies and EUR 350,000 for electronic money institutions.
It is also worth noting that the preparation and execution of papers for obtaining a license requires certain knowledge (including Lithuanian legislation and language), as well as preliminary measures, for example, opening a bank account, registering a TM, etc.
If you want to obtain a license in Lithuania for a certain type of activity, you can use the services of our company:
- Our experts will advise you and determine what type of license your company needs, based on the specifics of your work;
- After receiving all the necessary information from you regarding the papers, our legal team will proceed with the paperwork to apply for a license;
- You have to pay part of the cost of services, and also draw up a power of attorney for our employee who will represent your interests in government services. For this, we will provide you with a sample power of attorney.
- Having received the power of attorney and data, we draw up and submit an application to the service.
- After that, we wait for a response from the licensing institution, and you take the license.
We should note that Lano Solutions provides services for obtaining a license in Lithuania and has successfully helped Lithuanian and foreign companies obtain licenses for various activities in Lithuania and the EU countries. We also provided legal support in obtaining a license:
- for the wholesale trade of pharmaceuticals in the EU for an international pharmaceutical company;
- for restaurant activities in Lithuania;
- for currency exchange on the territory of Estonia and Lithuania;
- for international cargo transportation for a German carrier;
- to carry out money transfers for a payment organisation.