🏛 Lesson 3: Make It Legal and Safe

The papers every product business needs

Register the business name with the Companies Office of Jamaica and get a TRN from Tax Administration Jamaica. That is the afternoon that lets you open a business bank account, invoice a company and list anywhere serious. Keep receipts for everything you buy for the business from day one.

Food has extra rules

Anyone preparing or handling food for sale needs a food handler's permit from the parish health department (Ministry of Health and Wellness). Packaged food needs a label with the name, the ingredients, the weight and your contact. If you want to sell into supermarkets or export, there are further standards; ask the Bureau of Standards Jamaica and the health department before you print labels.

Labels, receipts and returns

Even a simple product needs a label with the name and a way to reach you, a receipt on every sale, and a one-line return rule written where customers can see it. The rule protects you more than them: "exchange within 7 days with receipt, no refunds on opened items" ends arguments before they start.

Homework

Registration submitted, TRN applied for, and — if you sell food — the food handler's permit booked, within the week.

✅ Do this now — step by step

1. Check your name is free at the Companies Office of Jamaica, then register it.
2. Apply for the TRN (the same form can start it).
3. Food: book the food handler's permit course at the parish health department; design the label.
4. Write the receipt and return rule and put it on the catalogue and the counter.

⚠️ Mistakes to avoid

• Selling food from home for a year with no permit — one complaint closes you.
• No label, no receipt, no return rule, and then a WhatsApp argument every week.
• Waiting to register until "it gets big" — the bank and the corporate customer ask on day one.

🇯🇲 How it plays out in Jamaica