An act of commerce involves a transaction.
To facilitate the understanding of the act of commerce , it is necessary to review certain concepts. In principle, the notion of an act can refer to an action or a celebration. Commerce , on the other hand, is linked to the activity that people carry out with the aim of obtaining certain goods that they cannot produce on their own; To do this, it is necessary to interact with the respective producers and reach an agreement (exchange of goods for money).
Finally, a merchant is any person who has the capacity to act as a mediator between various producers ; This mediation is his profession and he assumes the responsibility that the relationship with each of his clients generates. In this task, the trader receives some profit.
What is an act of commerce
Having said this, we can define as an act of commerce , something belonging to the legal field that refers to the acquisition that is made, through the completion of a payment , of a product or the rights over it, with the objective of obtaining a subsequent profit. This gain may arise from the same state that the product was at the time of purchase or from some transformation that modified its value.
The legal use of the concept of commercial act is applied to movable things , that is, those that can be moved without their structure changing; Its counterpart, real estate, is buildings or land.
There are various types of commercial acts.
The legal component
The act of commerce, in short, is the legal act that distinguishes between cases that fall within the scope of commercial law and those of the civil branch. There are, in any case, mixed acts (with a double character ).
The regulation of commercial acts depends on the regulations in force in each country. These regulations are responsible for establishing the scope, capacity and competence of said acts, according to the corresponding procedures.
Different acts of commerce
Many classifications can be established within commercial activities, they are made based on various criteria, which can be:
* Public or private : if the people involved in the act are taken into account. If it is carried out with direct control by the State, it will be public; Otherwise, it will be private , which does not mean that the State does not safeguard the rights of each of the parties, but rather that it has no interest in said operation;
* River, land, sea or air : according to the means that the merchant uses to transport the product and the type of communication that exists between the parties;
* Wholesale or retail : depending on the volume of the product. For example: the merchant who has a food sales business buys in large quantities from a supplier (wholesale) and then sells in small quantities to individuals (retail);
* Cash or credit : if the payment method with which the exchange is made is taken into account. If the buyer pays with money or check, it is said that he pays in cash (payment is made instantly) and if he does it with a credit card or promissory note, it will be on credit (payment will be made at the end of the month);
* Legal or illicit : according to the degree of observance of current commercial laws. If they are not respected, it is said to be illegal and if they do so, it will be a legal commercial act;
* Import or export : with respect to the place of origin of the product , whether from national territory or abroad;
* Free or monopolistic : if you take into account the number of bidders that exist in the market. If there is only one supplier, then we will be facing an act of monopoly; If there are many merchants offering the same product and competing in the market , it is said to be a free commercial act.
It is important that the participants in a commercial act have full capacity to carry out said trade; It can be known if the law and its observance in the exchange are taken into account. Furthermore, according to the sector in which it is being marketed, the characteristic requirements of said sector must be taken into account.