Business Charter

A Business Charter is a sort of business license allowing for operations and taxation by the larger government.

• It is a part of operating a business or corporation within Imperial Space and even the larger region of Charted Space.
• Established parts of Charted Space just consider the charter and associated taxes to be a cost of business operations. Parts of trade space operating without charters tend to have much larger costs and a lower level of assurances. Traders gravitate to stable markets.

Description (Specifications)

Certain labels are attached to company names to indicate whether the company is a corporation (...and whether it is public or private) or a partnership. These abbreviations help people doing business with such companies keep track of what form of business they are dealing with and what laws will protect them in the event of future difficulties. It is understood that most corporations in the Imperium, public or private, will have the appellation "LIC," which stands for Limited Imperial Corporation. This is often omitted in common usage: e.g. "SuSAG" is often used instead of "Schunamann and Sohn, AG LIC."

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Business Charter Types

1. Partnerships
2. Public Corporation
3. Private Corporation

History & Background (Dossier)

Except for a few corporations pre-dating the Imperium (e.g. Achenaar Antilles Line, GSbAG, Kirgaasanakka Publishing, Ling-Standard Products, Makhidkarun, Naasirka, Sharurshid, Zirunkariish), all corporations engaging in interstellar commerce are required to possess such a charter. This is indicated by the letters LIC following the company name.

Outside of Imperial Space

The idea of business charters is not common to all sophontic species, and many of the minor races do not possess a similar institution. All major races are believed to operate economies that use business charters, even if only for the convenience of dealing with other parts of Charted Space.

Selected Other Business Charter Types

These charters come from across Charted Space from a number of minor and major races:

1. AG (Aktiengesellschaft)
2. Amt. (Amalgamated)
3. BV (Besloten Venootschaap)
4. GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
5. Inc. (Incorporated)
6. LIC (Limited Liability Imperial Charter)
7. LLC (Limited Liability Company)
8. LLP (Limited Liability Partnership)
9. LRC (Limited Regency Corporation)
10. Ltd. (Limited Liability)
11. NHv (Ngekdues Hvaek)
12. NTh (Ngekvol Thaeghz)
13. PLC or Plc (Public Limited Company)
14. SA (Société Anonyme)
15. SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée)
16. SC (Service Corporation)
17. SH (Syarei Huakh)
18. SIA (S'mrii Incorporated Association)
19. SPRL (Société Privée à Responsabilité Limitée)
20. SRO (Spolecnost S Rucenim Omezenim)
21. TOO (Tovarichestvo c Ogrannichnuu Otvetstvenuu)
22. ULIC (Unlimited Liability Imperial Charter)
23. ZhI (Zhievr Ielinzh)

Business Charter Type Details

Business Charter Type Details
Code	Origin	Language	Remarks
AG (Aktiengesellschaft)	Terra	German	None
Amt. (Amalgamated)	Terra	Anglic	None
BV (Besloten Venootschaap)	Terra	German	None
GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)	Terra	German	None
Inc. (Incorporated)	Terra	Anglic	None
LIC (Limited Liability Imperial Charter)	Third Imperium	Anglic	None
LLC (Limited Liability Company)	Terra	Anglic	None
LLP (Limited Liability Partnership)	Terra	Anglic	None
LRC (Limited Regency Corporation)	Third Imperium	Anglic	None
Ltd. (Limited Liability)	Terra	Anglic	None
NHv (Ngekdues Hvaek)	Vargr Extents	Gvegh	None
NTh (Ngekvol Thaeghz)	Vargr Extents	Gvegh	None
PLC or Plc (Public Limited Company)	Terra	Anglic	None
SA (Société Anonyme)	Terra	French	None
SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée)	Terra	French	None
SC (Service Corporation)	Terra	Anglic	None
SH (Syarei Huakh)	Aslan Space	Trokh	None
SIA (S'mrii Incorporated Association)	Third Imperium	Anglic	None
SPRL (Société Privée à Responsabilité Limitée)	Terra	French	None
SRO (Spolecnost S Rucenim Omezenim)	Terra	Russian	None
TOO (Tovarichestvo c Ogrannichnuu Otvetstvenuu)	Terra	Russian	None
ULIC (Unlimited Liability Imperial Charter)	Third Imperium	Anglic	None
ZhI (Zhievr Ielinzh)	Zhodani Space	Zdetl	None

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Library Data (A-M) (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 40.
• Martin Dougherty, Neil Frier. Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games, 1998), TBD.
• Steve Daniels, Jim McLean, Christopher Thrash. Far Trader (Steve Jackson Games, 1999), 45, 99, 109.
• Paul Drye, Loren Wiseman, Jon F. Zeigler. Interstellar Wars (Steve Jackson Games, 2006), TBD.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science