For More Information about exporting to Bulgaira contact:
Peter Delin
Commercial Specialist
U.S. Embassy Sofia, Bulgaria
Finland is a high-technology Nordic country of 6 million people located in Northern Europe. Per the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Commission measuring digital competitiveness, Finland ranked number one in EU in 2019 improving two spots from 2018 making Finland the EU digital leader. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Finland employed 4.6 percent of the workforce in 2018 with a large share working in the software industry. Turnover for the ICT sector in Finland was $34 billion in 2018, staying on the same level as 2017. The value of electronics imports from the United States in 2018 grew by 20 percent from 2017 with the largest categories of computer hardware and units totaling $28 million (decrease of 38 percent), telephones and network devices totaling $43 million (decrease of 57 percent), and electronic components totaling $106 million (increase of 291 percent). The GDP estimate for Finland for 2018 is $261 billion with a GDP per capita of around $44,000.
Summary
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Private ownership is normal in Finland. All businesses in Finland must be publicly registered at the Finnish Trade Register. The type of company also affects the permits required, which can include the registration of the right to residency, residence permits for an employee or self-employed person, and registration in the Finnish Population Information System.
A foreigner may need a permit from the Finnish Patent and Registration Office to serve as a partner in a partnership or an administrative body of a company. The practice of some trades in Finland require only a notification or registration with the authorities while others require a separate license. Entrepreneurs must take out pension insurance for their employees, and certain fields obligate additional insurance. All businesses have a statutory obligation to maintain financial accounts, and, with the exception of small companies, businesses must appoint an external auditor. Finland waived the stock capital requirement for corporations in 2019 making incorporation readily accessible. Best strategy for market entry depends on the type of operations. For services, a local presence or a representative is a must as while English skills are relatively good amongst Finns, most customers prefer localization to and service in Finnish. For traditional products and parts, partnering with local suppliers or dealers to gain entry to the supply chains is an option as long as partner selection is conducted with due diligence.
Market Entry
Automotive Cluster Bulgaria
The Automotive Cluster Bulgaria (ACB), founded in 2012, is one of the best developed cluster structures in the Bulgarian economy. As an NGO it represents the interests of automotive manufacturers, suppliers and organizations providing services for the automotive industry - http://automotive.bg/
Electrical Vehicles Industrial Cluster Bulgaria
EVIC was registered in 2009 in Sofia, as an organization of cluster type, established by seven Bulgarian companies and is the first Industrial Association for electric mobility in Bulgaria. Currently the EVIC has 63 members and 73 recognized partner organizations.
http://www.emic-bg.org/news
Ministry of Interior – Traffic police
Traffic Police within the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior is the body that monitors the registration of any vehicles and all matters related to the road safety and everything related to road safety, as well as ensure that laws are properly enforced on the roads -https://www.mvr.bg/opp
Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
The Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency is part of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works - https://www.mrrb.bg/en/; http://www.api.bg/index.php/en
Local Resources / Contacts
bulgaria
Sports are popular leisure activities in Germany and are increasingly important to the German economy in terms of added value, employment, and consumption. Germany is the largest sports market in Europe, ranking fourth in the world. According to the Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), an estimated 27 million Germans participate in regular sports activities: 72% of athletes focus on self-organized sports, whereas 28% of athletes are active in at least one sports club.
Pre-Covid-19, the sports sector was expected to have an average annual growth of 2% over the next few years. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the sporting goods industry in Germany, and the market is now in a state of reinventing itself. On March 22, 2020, Germany went into a state of lockdown, restricting nearly all public activities, and slowly began to reopen on April 20, 2020. Due to Covid-19 lockdown regulations, gyms and swimming pools temporarily closed and group gatherings - including exercise - were prohibited. This not only meant lost income for exercise providers, but also radically altered exercise and physical activity behavior for healthy adults. All organized group sports came to a standstill. Subsequently, people turned to online workouts or solo outdoor sports such as jogging and biking to keep healthy and fit. Since mid-June, some indoor sports and group activities have been permitted, but only with strict hygiene regulations in place.
The latest numbers on the sports industry in Germany are from 2016 and published in 2019. They are found within the sports satellite account (SSK) of the Federal Statistics Office. They demonstrate the economic importance of the sports industry in Germany. The SSK collects data on sports-related consumption of the German population, the expenditures of companies for sports-related advertising and sponsorship, as well as the funds flowing into Germany for sports-related media.
- Sports contribute 71.6 billion euros to Germany’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This
corresponds to a share of around 2.3% of GDP.
- In total, sports-related goods and services worth almost 120 billion euros were produced.
24.4 billion euros of sporting goods were imported, while 3.8 billion euros worth of sports
products were exported.
- Private households spend almost 70 billion euros on sports-related consumption, more than 80%
of expenditures were on sports activities and the rest for sports interests (buying merchandise or
tickets to events.)
· - In addition to the high level of volunteerism in the sports industry, approximately 1.3 million
people are employed in the sports sector.
· - The total expenditure for the construction and operation of sports facilities is around 24.5 billion
euros.
- Around 4.5 billion euros are spent on sponsorship, media rights, and advertising in the sports
industry.
Germany
Summary