Definition of Commercial Code

An essential element of all current societies, the commercial code fulfills different functions to when legislating and ordering commercial activities that can be carried out in a territory.

Although normally the commercial codes vary greatly from country to country and depending on aspects of ideological positions economic, commercial codes are usually applicable to a territory and add extra aspects to regulate trade international.

The birth of the notion of commercial code

Although there have always existed in different societies, especially in the West, different regulations and legislations for control and organize business activities, the specific and concrete notion of writing business codes is relatively recent, emerging in Europe with political leaders and statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte in France or Otto von Bismarck in what today it would be Germany.

These characters gave importance to the building of a national State and for this they established compendiums of

legislation that would allow national commercial activities to organize themselves and better face external competition. Today, commercial codes exist in many countries and serve to establish a minimum base of rules in the activity.

How do you create a commercial code?

The drafting of a commercial code is arduous work and, depending on the country, may involve the work of several institutions. In this sense, it is usual for it to be the Congress or the Legislative power of a country the one that must debate on the assembly of the different parts of the same, it is also usually their responsibility the reform or change of any of its parts.

Then it's the Executive power the one that must accept or veto changes in the Legislative Power. This means that commercial codes, like all legislative material drawn up by a company, are built according to the needs of a company. population and they are not static.

Function and utility of a commercial code

The main function of a commercial code is precisely to regulate commercial activity within a territory, the one in which it has scope. They are usually complex and extensive texts whose main objective is to account for all the elements that can regulate the activity commercial, from who can legally practice it and what are the requirements, to economic issues that have to do with it practice of exchange internal between the different regions of the country.

In addition, they usually also mark which authorities regulate this activity and how they organize the resources that are received from the payment of taxes.

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