Preparing a company for the single market

Accession is a date on which a set of requirements becomes mandatory. Almost all of them can be met voluntarily beforehand, and a company that does so has a market before its competitors have a certificate.

Certification and conformity

Get the product tested to the harmonised standard, compile the technical file, issue the declaration and apply the marking. That is the single highest-return item on this list and it can be done today.

Accounting and audit

Move to international financial reporting standards and obtain an audit from a firm a foreign counterparty recognises.

This is what makes a company legible to a lender, a buyer or an investor, and it takes two or three years of statements to be useful, which is why starting late does not work.

Data protection

If you hold data on European individuals — customers, employees, contacts — the European regime already applies to you. Most companies here do and most have not addressed it.

Documentation and traceability

Batch records, supplier qualification, non-conformity handling. A European purchasing department will audit this before placing an order, and a company that cannot produce records fails an audit regardless of product quality.

Contracts and structure

Standard terms that a European counterparty can accept without redrafting. A holding structure that does not raise questions. Beneficial ownership disclosed and consistent across registers.

The point

None of this requires accession, permission or a change in the law. It requires deciding to do it, and the companies that decided early are the ones already exporting.

I use this list for my own companies too, and I do not vary the order: conformity first, then accounting, then data protection. A firm that starts on the day of accession is five years behind one that starts now — because what takes the time is not the documents but the habit of producing them. Preparation is cheap; delay costs a market.