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Registers

When registering your business in many cases more action and documents are necessary to be able to prove that you may carry out your business.

If the type and scope of your business is, for example, a commercial business (e.g. accounting requirement, management, the commercial order of representation and liability), then at any rate you are a trader and are obliged to register in the Commercial Register.

An excerpt from the Central Trade Register is required for certain businesses, from which it is apparent whether a legal entity or an individual person has violated any requirements of trade law. The excerpt is required to check a person’s reliability, before any trade requiring a license is authorized (e.g. running a public house or real estate agent).

Only natural persons and legal entities that have been registered in the Register of Craftsmen are permitted to carry out a craft requiring a license in self-employment and as a fixed location business.

If you would like to register a craft that does not require a license or a craft-related business, then the relevant Chamber of Crafts and Trades will not enter you into the Register of Craftsmen, but in the "List of owners of companies performing crafts not requiring a license or a craft-related business".

If you operate as an insurance broker, it might be necessary to be registered in the Register of Brokers.

Release note

The German original version of this text was drafted in close cooperation with the relevant departments. The Wirtschaftsministerium released it on 30.04.2019. Only the German text is legally binding. The Federal State does not assume any liability for the translated texts.

In cases of doubt or if you have any questions or problems, please contact the relevant authorities directly.