If you operate a traveling business, you need a permit from the competent authority (traveling business license) if you engage in commercial activities on a for-profit basis without a prior appointment, outside your place of business, or without having such a place of business
- offer goods for sale, solicit orders, or purchase goods, or
- offer services or solicit orders for services.
This includes, in particular, activities such as:
- visiting homes or businesses (door-to-door sales) without a prior appointment,
- offering goods and services on the street or in public places,
- entertainment activities as a showman or in a showman-like manner (stalls typical of folk festivals).
A prerequisite for granting the permit (travel trade license) is the personal reliability of the applicant with regard to the specific travel trade activity in question.
For the practice of licensed trades (including security guards, real estate agents, property developers, construction supervisors, investment advisors, insurance brokers, and insurance consultants) within the itinerant trade sector, additional requirements corresponding to those for stationary businesses apply.
Any expansion of business activities or of the goods and services offered requires a new license and will be added to the existing itinerant trade license upon request. The itinerant trade license is valid nationwide.
If you employ workers, they must have a duplicate or a certified copy of your itinerant trade license. The itinerant trade license, or a copy or duplicate thereof, must be carried with you while conducting itinerant trade activities.
Activities Not Requiring
a Travel
Trade License
For some travel trade activities, you do not need a travel trade license. This applies, for example, to:
- the sale of food or other everyday goods, provided they are sold from non-fixed (i.e., mobile) sales locations at regular, short intervals at the same location,
- the sale of printed materials via street vending (mobile newspaper sales)
However, these activities are subject to the other provisions governing the itinerant trade (e.g., the obligation to file a notice), unless otherwise specified therein.
(Reliability is assessed based on various forms of evidence. As a rule, you do not meet the reliability requirements if, within the five years prior to filing the application, you have been convicted of a felony or of theft, embezzlement, extortion, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, forgery, handling stolen goods, usury, or a violation of the Unfair Competition Act.)
Once you have submitted your application for a traveling trade license to the appropriate authority and all required documents have been provided, the authority will review whether you meet the relevant requirements.
If all documents are complete, you will receive the itinerant trade license you applied for.
If you hold a traveling trade license, you are required to carry it with you while conducting business. If you use a sales location or other facility (e.g., a sales vehicle), you must display your first and last name or your business name in a visible location on the outside.
Working independently as a traveling showman or showwoman, or in a similar capacity, is considered part of the traveling trade and requires the business owner to hold a traveling trade license. If the business owner does not personally work at the performance site, they must provide the employees present there with a copy of the itinerant trade license.
Anyone who works independently as a showman or showwoman, or in a showman-like capacity, in an activity within the traveling trade that is subject to mandatory insurance must obtain liability insurance for themselves and the persons employed in their business to cover personaland property damage caused by their activities, and must maintain such coverage for the duration of their activities.
The itinerant trade license must be issued before you begin operations; therefore, you must submit your application in a timely manner (a few weeks before your intended start date).
If you have applied for a permit to engage in itinerant trade, the permit is deemed to have been granted if the authority has not made a decision on your application within three months of receiving the complete documentation
It is an administrative offense to operate without the required itinerant trade license.
If the documents are complete, the application will be processed promptly.
