One of the concerns that virtual businesses encounter is the issue of laws and regulations. Among the challenges in this field, obtaining licenses is one of the issues that businesses face significant problems with.

According to IDEA, obtaining licenses is a requirement for starting any business. The problem that startups and virtual businesses in Iran face is that they are often unaware of the necessary laws and licenses.

According to Article 21 of the Law on the Implementation of General Policies of Principle 44 of the Constitution, a business license is any written permission, including licenses, permits, certificates, approvals, licenses, inquiries, agreements, or approvals issued by executive agencies for the start, continuation, development, or operation of economic activities. According to this article, a business license is a type of confirmation of the legal status of a business activity that requires a license.

Virtual businesses require two types of licenses:

1. General licenses, including obtaining trust symbols such as electronic trust symbols and business licenses. The electronic trust symbol is provided by the Electronic Commerce Development Center and can be found on the Enamad website.
2. Specialized licenses within each profession, such as licenses for specific trades like online gold trading, which require obtaining licenses from the relevant professional group through the national portal. For instance, if an online business is involved in selling cultural products like books, it needs a business license from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Similarly, if the business deals with selling health and medical products, it must obtain a license from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

Conditions for obtaining licenses for virtual businesses:

One of the conditions that virtual businesses are required to meet is not having any tax debts. After that, it is necessary to complete courses on trade and business regulations. Holding a specialized and technical license or having a technical diploma or relevant university degree, or introducing a qualified person, are also requirements.

To obtain a license for an online business, as a legal entity, the applicant must register a company. Registering a company involves following the legal registration process with the relevant company registration authority by the founders and organizers of the company.

According to the executive regulations on how to issue licenses and oversee the activities of professionals in the virtual space and network marketing, the steps for obtaining an online business license include setting up a virtual business, following the checklists provided by the Electronic Commerce Development Center, and submitting the application through the Inamad system.

What is a license?

An online business license is one of the most important licenses required for launching an online store. A professional license, also known as a trade license, must be obtained from the relevant sector’s professional association. If there is no specific category for the seller’s field of activity, they must obtain their license from the Virtual Business Association. Generally, any product that a user intends to operate in the virtual space requires the necessary license from appropriate authorities.

What stages do virtual businesses need to go through?

Virtual businesses, often engaged in startup approaches, need to go through the following stages in order to continue their activities by obtaining a license:

• Launching the virtual business (according to the checklists provided by the Electronic Commerce Development Center).
• Registering the application by the applicant in the Enamad system.
• Referring the application for businesses subject to the professional guild law to the guild system after evaluation by the Electronic Commerce Development Center.
• Uploading the documents specified in Article 4 of these regulations to the guild system within a maximum of three months after the application is accepted.
• Completing the dossier by the association.
• Issuing the business license and delivering it to the applicant after verifying the uploaded documents with the original within 15 days, and sending the business license details to the Enamad system