Legal Articles HE

The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus approved the Cyprus Start Visa for non-EU citizens aiming at promoting investments in Cyprus in the fields of innovation and, research and development (R&D). Mr Constantinos Petrides, Undersecretary to the President, underlined that this scheme concerns individual investors and groups of investors who will be in a position to establish a...

Animal welfare denotes the well-being of animals, a vital component for the preservation of the ecosystem. The Cyprus legislation for the protection and safeguarding the health and welfare of animals (46(I)/1994) provides a clear distinction between domestic and wild animals. According to the aforementioned legislation, ‘wild animal’ is the animal which by its nature is predestined to live...

Cyprus signed the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting on 1st November 2016. Following this, the Cyprus Ministry of Finance issued a Decree pursuant to Article 6(16) of the Assessment and Collection of Taxes Law on Country-by-Country Reporting. This Decree is in accordance with the EU...

The Leasing Law (72(I)/2016) entered into force on 28 April 2016. The purpose of this Law is to regulate and supervise the provision of financial leasing services to the public, in order to provide consumers and enterprises with alternative ways of financing. Financial leasing is an alternative to traditional credit financing through which medium to long-term financing can be granted, thus...

The mission of CySEC is to safeguard investors protection and the healthy development of the securities market. Furthermore, the vision of CySEC is to establish the Cyprus securities market as one of the most reliable, safest and attractive jurisdiction for investment. Recently, CySEC set standards and guidelines to assist the Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) in meeting their obligations....

Nowadays, the internet is embedded in almost every aspect of daily and business life. People use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to network, to communicate, to establish business partnerships, to trade, to buy/sell products and services, a.o.  Furthermore, the companies use the internet as a medium to advertise their products and services, approach potential new clients and...

Tax avoidance and improvement of Single Market for businesses are among the main concerns of the European Union. Specifically, the European Commission aims at reinforcing entrepreneurship and boosting economic growth by promoting tax transparency. In October 2016, the European Commission re-launched the Common Corporate Consolidated Tax Base (CCCTB), a single set of rules to calculate...

Natural and legal persons involved in legal proceedings send and receive various judicial and extrajudicial documents. ‘Service of documents’ denotes the delivery of legal documents that notify the recipient of the commencement of litigation proceedings in which he/she is involved. In Cyprus, service of documents is regulated by Civil Procedure Rules. Civil Procedure Rules determine the method...

Circular 2016/15, issued on 24 November 2016, by the Cyprus Tax Department, defines the application of Article 33 of the Income Tax Law (118(I)/2002), as amended in 2015 (187(I)/2015). Article 33 enables the tax authorities to adjust and regulate transactions between related parties on terms which, according to the authorities, differ from those which would apply to similar transactions...

Cypriot investment firms (CIFs) provide investment services on a professional basis inside or outside Cyprus.  A CIF cannot offer professional investment services without being licenced by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Generally, CySEC authorises and supervises investment firms and activities in Cyprus based on the provisions of Law 144 (I)/2007.  In order to obtain...