Easy language

On this website you will find information in easy language.
Easy language means:
Write or speak in a way that everyone understands.

For example:
People who can't read so well.
People who can't speak German so well.

Welcome to the website www.service.wirtschaft.nrw.

On this website is the economic service portal.

The abbreviation for Business Service Portal is WSP.
NRW is the abbreviation for North Rhine-Westphalia.
There are 16 federal states in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia is a federal state of Germany.

The WSP helps you if you want to open a company in NRW.
Or if you come from another country and want to work in NRW.
The WSP is a website.

The website is from this Ministry in NRW:

• Economy
• Innovation
• Climate protection
• Energy
  

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Climate Protection and Energy North Rhine-Westphalia

The abbreviation for the Ministry is: MWIKE.

MWIKE employs people who take care of the economy.

They ensure that companies in North Rhine-Westphalia can work well.

Then the companies are doing well.

And people have work.

There are many companies in NRW.
In order for companies to build new and better products, they need fast internet.
Companies need to be able to do a lot of things online.
This means: Digitalisation.

On the sub-page [‘Reasons’](/Enterprise formation/) you will find information on various topics if you:
Want to open a company.

See sub-page ‘Trades’ for information on how to open a company.
Or how to open a restaurant.
Or how you can work as a craftsman.

You can open a company on the sub-page “My WSP”.
Or close your company again.
Or tell us that your company has moved.

In the WSP you will also find information about the Unified Contact Partner.
In short, the Unified Contact Partner is: EA.
The sub-page of the Unified Contact Partner NRW is called:
[“EA NRW”](/assistance/single point of contact/).

We explain:

• What the EA NRW is.
• What the EA NRW does.
• How to write a message to EA NRW.
• How to navigate on the homepage.
• How accessible the WSP is.

What is the Unified Contact Partner?
Many countries in Europe work together.
These countries are in the European Union.
The abbreviation for European Union is: EU.
The EU economy is expected to grow.
Then the companies and companies are doing well.
And people have work.
The Unified Contact Partner helps with this.
In short, it is called: EA.

There are 16 federal states in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia is a federal state of Germany.
Each federal state has its own EA.
The EA in North Rhine-Westphalia is only available for North Rhine-Westphalia.
The address of EA NRW is:

Headquarters of the Single Point of Contact
Detmold district government
Leopoldstraße 15
32756 Detmold

Phone: 0 52 31 - 71 34 50
Fax: 0 52 31 - 71 82 34 50
E-mail address: info@nrw-ea.de

What does the Unified Contact Partner do?
Many people in Europe want to open a company.
For example, a shop or a restaurant.
Anyone who wants to open a company needs a permit.
Permission is given at the office.

There are many offices in Germany.
For example:

• Office of Labour
• Office of Economics
• Office for Family

Permission must be asked. This means: make an application.

But many people don't know:

• What applications you need to make.
• To which office you have to submit applications.

The Unified Contact Partner helps with this.
In short, it is called: EA.
The EA says which applications are important.
And he says which office is the right one.

This means:
The EA helps people who want to open a company in NRW.
He helps people from Germany.
And people from other countries.
Many people from other countries want to open a company in Germany.
Or they want to work in Germany.
These people need permission.
Then you can work in Germany in your profession.
The permit is called: Professional recognition.
An application must also be made for this.
And the EA helps with that.
He says how the proposal works.
And he says which office for professional recognition is the right one.

How can I write to the Unified Contact Partner?
The sub-page of the Unified Contact Partner is: [“EA NRW”](/assistance/single point of contact/).

On the sub-page of the EA there is a lot of information on how to open a company.
Or how to get professional recognition.

There is more on the EA website.
You can ask questions to the EA via the Internet.
And you can send your application to the EA.
You don't have to go to office anymore.
You can do anything from home on the computer.
All you need to do is log in to the EA ticket system.
In the ticket system you can write to the EA.
Just click here
This registration is free of charge.
EA's help is free.

You can also email the EA.
The email address is: info@nrw-ea.de
The EA will respond to your questions.
And he passes your request on to the right office.
Many people can then work faster and easier in Germany.

How do I navigate the home page?
At the top left is the logo.
Clicking on the logo will take you to the homepage.
The logo is always visible.

At the top in the middle you can see a yellow magnifying glass.
That's the search.
Click on the magnifying glass.
A search field will appear.
There you can write in a search word.
To the right of the search field there is a yellow field with magnifying glass.
To the right of the magnifying glass is Search.
Click on the yellow field with magnifying glass.
So you can find certain content.

At the top right of the magnifying glass you will see a series of words.
These are 5 areas:

• English
• Contact
• Easy language
• Sign language
• Sign up

Click English.
Then you come to the English side.
Click on Contact.
Then you will see the address and telephone number of the Unified Contact Partner.
Click Light language.
Then you will see information in easy language.
Click Sign Language.
Then watch movies in sign language.
Click on Login.
Then you can log in to the WSP.

At the top of the logo are 5 main themes:

• Online applications
• Foundation
• Corporate management
• International work
• help

To the right of the main themes is the logo of the state government for North Rhine-Westphalia.
The WSP belongs to the state government.

Among the 5 main themes is the title of the WSP.
There is also a brief description of the WSP.
Under the title is the search field.
You can write a search word into the search field.
To the right of the magnifying glass is Search.
Click on the yellow field with magnifying glass.
So you can find suitable content for the search word.
Above the search field there is a light blue button For reasons.
Founders are people who open a company.

Below the search field there is a white field with a magnifying glass.
To the right of the magnifying glass is Manual search.
Clicking on the white box will lead to all online applications.
You can submit an online application using your computer.
To the right of the white field there is a blue field.
The blue field is important for founders.

There are 8 applications under the white box.
These are the most used applications.
You can start an application with one click.
Among the 8 applications, there are logos from the WSP partners.
Under the logos are information for authorities and municipalities.

At the bottom there are 3 areas with many links:

• For companies
• For authorities
• Our service

At the bottom right of the page are hints to

• Accessibility
• Cookies
• Sitemap
• Privacy policy
• Imprint

Declaration on barrier freedom from the WSP
The declaration is dated 9 November 2022.
It applies to the service.wirtschaft.nrw website and to all forms.
As many people as possible should be able to use the site.
There are laws for more barrier freedom.
Barrier-free means:
without obstacles.
People with disabilities should be able to participate better.
The MWIKE is governed by many laws.
The laws are:

• Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament
• Disabled Equality Act NRW
• Accessible Information Technology Ordinance NRW (BITV NRW)

So many people can understand the website well.

Almost barrier-free
Currently, the WSP is almost barrier-free.
We want to make barrier freedom even better.
We need time for that.
Please be patient.

Report problems
Are you having problems with the website?
Need more info?
Or do you have questions?
Then contact:
Office of the NRW Single Point of Contact
c/o Detmold District Government
Leopoldstraße 15
32756 Detmold
Germany
E-mail: info@nrw-ea.de
Tel: +49 5231 71 3450
Fax: +49 5231 7182 3450

Monitoring body
You still see barriers.
Then you can complain.
You can write an email to the monitoring centre for barrier-free information technology of North Rhine-Westphalia:
ueberwachungsstelle-nrw@it.nrw.de

Arbitration procedure
The monitoring body will examine your complaint.
The supervising body then talks to the public body.
And the monitoring body gives the public body an appointment.
By this time, the barriers must be gone.
Isn't the public sector meeting the deadline?
Or are you dissatisfied with the response from the public sector?
Then you can contact the conciliation office.
You can write an email to the conciliation body:
ombudstelle-barrierefreie-it@mags.nrw.de
Important:
You don't have to pay anything for it:

• nothing for the work of the monitoring body
• nothing for the work of the conciliation body