Section 15.01 - Authority to transact business required(a) A foreign corporation may not transact business in this State until it obtains a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State.(b) The following activities, among others, do not constitute transacting business within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section:(1) maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding;(2) holding meetings of the board of directors or members or carrying on other activities concerning internal corporate affairs;(3) maintaining bank accounts;(4) maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of memberships or securities or maintaining trustees or depositaries with respect to those securities;(5) selling through independent contractors;(6) soliciting or obtaining orders, whether by mail or through employees or agents or otherwise, if the orders require acceptance outside this State before they become contracts;(7) creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security interests in real or personal property;(8) securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and security interests in property securing the debts;(9) owning, without more, real or personal property;(10) conducting an isolated transaction that is completed within 30 days and that is not one in the course of repeated transactions of a like nature;(11) transacting business in interstate commerce.Added 1995, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. 1/1/1997.