In business life, it is often the case that either the business partners of a non-resident company, before concluding a commercial deal with that company, or governmental institutions, before giving permission to register a representative office of the non-resident company, require the said company to present a document, confirming that it has, at the point of carrying out a specific trading or legal operation, valid and legitimate status according to the records of the Register of Enterprises in the country of its incorporation.

In such cases a special document is required - a Certificate of Goodstanding (CGS), issued by the Register of Enterprises of the country in which the company is incorporated.

The text appearing on a CGS is standard for each particular country, and generally it says: "By this we confirm that the company "ABC Ltd." is, on the day of issue of the present certificate, validly registered in the Register of Enterprises, is not undergoing a process of liquidation and is not in arrears in respect of any national duties".

Certificate of Goodstanding issued by the Secretary of the State of Nevada (USA).

Next, the Certificate of Goodstanding is usually certified by Apostille and, where necessary, translated into the official language of the respective country. This set of documents is then presented to the public or commercial body that has requested production of the CGS from the company owners.

It usually takes 2-4 weeks for production of a CGS and its certification by Apostille, depending on the specific jurisdiction.