Estonian e-company registration accepts digital signatures

The first company in Estonian business history was created in the Company Registration Portal with a Finnish ID card, without the founders of the company having had to leave their desks to get the company officially registered in Estonia.
According to Ingmar Vali, the head of the Court Registry Department at the Centre of Registers and Information Systems, the Estonian Company Registration Portal was opened to the users of Finnish ID-cards at the end of last year. The portal also accepts digital signatures from Portugal, Belgium and Lithuania.
“As far as we know, the cooperation between Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Belgium and Lithuania is the first instance where the register of one country officially accepts the national ID-cards and their digital signatures from other countries,” said Vali.
The newly-created company has two Estonian and three Finnish founders who all used the ID-card of their respective country in creating the company that is located in Tallinn and deals with the wholesale of electronic and telecommunications appliances and their parts.
Vali confirmed that Estonian companies have offered a warm reception to the e-Commercial Register Company Registration Portal. “We are extremely delighted to see that our portal has now, for the first time, also found usage by our northern neighbours. We hope that we will soon see other entrepreneurs from Finland and other partner states there.”
The Estonian e-Commercial Register portal is unique in Europe for the speed and comfort of founding a company. For example, one can register a private limited company in a few hours using the ID-card and never leaving the house. In addition to founding a business enterprise, the company portal can also be used to change a company’s registry data and file the electronic annual report.
The Estonian Company Registration Portal is located at the address: https://ettevotjaportaal.rik.ee/index.py?chlang=eng
The web page of the Finnish partner of the Estonian Centre of Registers and Information Systems is located at the address: http://www.fineid.fi/.