alt Hacker NewsCompanies are treated like persons legally and while I'm sure there is too much bureaucracy in many places, I'm also sure that there are important documents that should be required.
For example to make sure that a company can be held responsible when it breaks the law.
There are already enough loopholes to disconnect legal responsibility from profit-taking, and not every company is benign.
Sure, if the documents cannot be acquired in X days for other reasons, that would undermine the tagline.
But I don't think that's the main risk.
Let's not forget that some requirements make sense.
In Germany, the government recently decided that some minor applications to local governments must be answered within X days or else are automatically approved.
But "minor" is important here... great for a small business that applies for a permit to renovate there outdoor seatings or whatever.
I wouldn't want for company foundings to be auto-approved without submitting the legally required documents.
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There is a huge spectrum between "require impossible documentation" and "require none". Germany and EU are heading towards the former.
> In Germany, the government recently decided that some minor applications to local governments must be answered within X days or else are automatically approved.
I believe it was just a crazy idea that was submitted recently.
The closest real thing is 75 VwGO which requires a decision in 3 months. The immigration office has been failing to meet that requirement for years with few consequences, because enforcing that right is expensive and takes even longer.
In most (all?) US states, you can just start a company. You file a form, usually online, with the state, and you ask the IRS, online, for an ID number called an EIN. Technically you have a valid company after just step 1, but good luck getting any sort of bank account without doing step 2.
If you want to employ people, you need to file gratuitously obnoxious paperwork, but it’s still automatic.
What’s the actual problem? Why should it be harder?
Some states like California dislike small businesses in that they charge $800/year. But that’s pretty much it.
> For example to make sure that a company can be held responsible when it breaks the law.
This is the reason Germany hates small companies. Germany wants you to be a sole trader with no liability shield.
Some people hack the system by registering a company in another EU state such as Lithuania.