Trade registration

table of content

General information

An activity subject to the Gewerbeordnung may be pursued independently, regularly and with gainful intent if the trade has been registered with the competent trade authority at the place where the enterprise operates.

Both sole traders and legal entities (corporations, associations, etc.) and registered partnerships require a trade license to carry on a trade.

Legal entities and registered partnerships have to appoint a manager pursuant to trade law and to notify the competent trade authority at the place where the enterprise operates.

Sole traders unable to furnish evidence of professional competence for a regulated trade also have to appoint a manager pursuant to trade law who is able to prove her/his professional competence.

Appointment of a manager pursuant to trade law is also required if the sole trader does not have her/his residence in Austria. EEA citizens or Swiss people who reside in an EEA signatory state or in Switzerland are not required to appoint a manager pursuant to trade law.

Enterprises affected

All enterprises intending to carry on a trade

Requirements

For sole traders:

For legal entities (corporations, associations, etc.) and registered partnerships:

  • Entry into the Commercial Register or the Central Register of Associations or the like
  • None of the grounds of ineligibility to carry on a trade (e.g. financial criminal offence, court sentence) is applicable.
    A waiver of ineligibility may be granted under certain circumstances.

For the manager pursuant to trade law:

  • Citizenship:
  • Residence in Austria, in an EEA signatory state or in Switzerland
  • Legal capacity: upon reaching the age of 18 years
  • None of the grounds of ineligibility to carry on the trade (e.g. financial criminal offences, court sentence) applies to persons having significant influence in the company.
    A waiver of ineligibility may be granted under certain circumstances

For regulated trades:

  • Evidence of professional competence or
  • Administrative decision recognising individual professional competence
  • Administrative decision on the recognition/equivalence of EEA certificates of professional competence
  • In the event of appointing a manager:
    • For sole traders:
      • Employment as an employee subject to compulsory social insurance (for at least half of the weekly standard working hours)
    • For legal entities and registered partnerships:
      • Either appointment for legal representation vis-à-vis third parties or
      • Employment as an employee subject to compulsory social insurance (for at least half of the weekly standard working hours)

Caution

In specific cases a trade facilities approval is required (particularly if the trade facilities may cause hazards, nuisances or disturbances).

Deadlines

No specific deadlines have to be met.

Competent authority

The trade authority having territorial competence for the trade premises:

Procedure

The trade has to be registered with the trade authority. Registration may be made – without meeting specific formal requirements or by using a form – personally, in writing or also electronically.

Informal applications have to include the following information:

  • Precise title of the trade
  • Full details of the location where the trade is carried on
  • Precise name of the person/entity registering the trade
    • For natural persons: first name, surname, address, date and place of birth, citizenship, social insurance number
    • For companies/associations: complete company name and Commercial Register number or complete name of the association and Central Association Register number, business address
  • If a manager pursuant to trade law is registered at the same time:
    • First name and surname, address, date and place of birth as well as citizenship of the manager pursuant to trade law
    • If she/he has employee status:
      • Social insurance number
      • Account number of employer

Tip

If you contact the competent Economic Chamber (→ WKO)German text, it will assist you in registering your trade free of charge.

Trade registration will take legal effect if all requirements are met and the necessary documents are attached to the request. The trade may be carried on as from the date of registration.

Trades in accordance with section 95 of the Gewerbeordnung (hereinafter referred to as "section-95 trades") as well as the chimney sweep trade may be carried on only as from the date on which the final administrative decision (Feststellungsbescheid) is issued. The competent authority has to issue the final administrative decision within three months.

As far as section-95 trades as well as the chimney sweep trade are concerned, the appointment of a manager pursuant to trade law will become effective only as from the date of the notification of approval (Genehmigungsbescheid).

Entry into the Austrian Business Licence Information System (GISA)

The person/entity registering a business is entered into the Austrian Business Licence Information System within three months as from the legally valid registration if all requirements have been met (i.e. if all documents were received by the authority and/or individual professional competence for carrying on the regulated trade has been approved with binding force).

If the requirements are not yet fully met and/or if the required documents were not available upon trade registration and if any of the following requests is filed

upon trade registration, the authority has to take into account administrative decisions issued within the three-month deadline.

Example

A waiver of ineligibility in favour of the person/entity making the registration – which has been issued with legal effect after registration – may be taken into account by the trade authority if the request for the waiver had been submitted no later than upon trade registration.

The date of the legally effective trade registration is defined as the date on which all documents required were received by the trade authority and on which, if applicable, individual professional competence was recognised, a waiver of ineligibility was granted, on which professional competence was recognised or equivalence was established.

The authority will forward a registration certificate of the GISA as well as in the case of section-95 trades a final administrative decision.

The GISA-certificate will be sent to you by standard mail. If you registered a section-95 trade, the final administrative decision required for operating your business will be sent to you in a letter with return receipt ("RSb-Brief").

If the requirements for carrying on a trade have not been met, you will receive an administrative decision rejecting your application.

Required documents

Please note

Persons who are already registered in the GISA do not have to submit identification documents. If the authority can retrieve the necessary data from registers, the following documents do not have to be submitted: birth certificate and certificate of citizenship (→ oesterreich.gv.at) or passport (→ oesterreich.gv.at), residence registration, registration certificates of the Commercial Register/ Register of Associations (→ oesterreich.gv.at).

For sole traders:

For legal entities (corporations, associations, etc.) and registered partnerships:

Costs and fees

There are no stamp duties and federal administration fees (see section 333a of the Gewerbeordnung 1994).

Further information

It you start to pursue an activity governed by the Gewerbeordnung you will be subject to compulsory membership in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (→ WKO)German text as well as compulsory social insurance in accordance with the Gewerbliches Sozialversicherungsgesetz (GSVG). You have to register the respective business activity with the Social Security Service for Entrepreneurs (→ SVS)German text.

Tip

More information on registration with the SVS is provided in the Business Start-up Guide for Sole Traders (Gründungsfahrplan Einzelunternehmen) as well as the Business Start-up Guide for Partnerships (Gründungsfahrplan Gesellschaften).

First-instance denial of trade registrations is subject to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court.

Legal bases

sections 13, 39, 333a, 339 to 340 of the Gewerbeordnung1994 (GewO 1994)

Link to form

Online procedure:

Authentication and signature

Electronically: without authentication (via the Austrian Business Licence Information System (GISA) or by registering using a mobile phone signature or Citizen Card.

Translated by the European Commission
Last update: 4 April 2024

Responsible for the content: Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy