To protect those who transact with Foreign Company, the Commercial Act requires certain conditions from Foreign Company which engages in business in Korea.
The requirements are:
- Appoint a representative of the branch in Korea
- Establish a business office in Korea, or have one or more representatives have his/her address in the Republic of Korea
- Make the same registration as that of a branch office of a company incorporated in Korea of the same kind or of the most similar kind. A foreign company shall register the governing law under which it was incorporated and the name and address of its representative in Korea.
A “branch office” attempts sales activities in Korea to generate profits. This is the main difference with a “liaison office” which does not conduct sales activities to generate profit, but carries out non-sales functions such as business contacts, market research, etc. Liaison offices are limited in their scope of activities because they are not allowed to sell products directly on behalf of the headquarters.
