business
Let an agent handle businesses by legal identity, activity, ownership, status and compliance, and verify them before trusting.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent handle businesses by legal identity, activity, ownership, status and compliance, and verify them before trusting.
An organisation or enterprise engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activity for profit, in legal forms from sole traders to corporations.
What it is for: Producing and selling goods and services for profit.
It can be register and run it; verify it in registers; contract with it; complain about it.
Distinguishing features
For-profit organisation
Legal form decides liability
Registered with authorities
Brands differ from legal entities
What it looks like
Offices, shops, factories, websites and brands.
How it is recognised
Registered name and number
Trading names and brands
Legal form suffixes
Related models
is a kind of - legal entity
carries out - activity
operates - sites
is regulated by - rules
In practice
Families and kinds
sole traders
partnerships
limited companies
corporations
cooperatives and social enterprises
Identifiers
company registration number jurisdiction-specific registry
LEI 20 characters legal entity
VAT number country prefix plus digits tax
Standards and regulation
Company law
Tax and accounting law
Consumer and competition law
Failure modes and hazards
Fake businesses and scams
Confusing brand and legal entity
Dissolved businesses still advertising
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.business-3
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Identity Which business.
Registers identify businesses.
Registration
Registry.
Registration
Registry details.
- What is its registered name and number? provenance
- Is it active? boundary
Brand
Trading names.
Brand
Trading names.
- Which brands does it trade under? definition
- Which entity is behind a brand? provenance
Activity What it does.
Activity classification.
Sector
Industry.
Sector
Industry.
- Which industry and activities? definition
- Which licences are needed? boundary
Size
Employees and turnover.
Size
Size.
- How large is it? measurement
- From which filings? provenance
Ownership Who owns and controls.
Ownership matters for trust.
Owners
Shareholders and beneficial owners.
Owners
Ownership.
- Who owns and controls it? provenance
- Is beneficial ownership disclosed? boundary
Directors
Officers.
Directors
Officers.
- Who are its directors? provenance
- Are any disqualified? boundary
Trust Verification and complaints.
Trust must be verified.
Verification
Checks.
Verification
Verification steps.
- How can this business be verified? action
- Are there regulator warnings? boundary
Complaints
Redress.
Complaints
Complaint routes.
- How can a complaint be made? action
- Which body can help? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Should businesses be instances linked to registers?
- How should agents verify businesses?
- How should brands and entities be linked?