Description
The independent operation of a craft subject to licensing or of an essential part of it (cf. Annex A to the Crafts Code) as a standing trade is only permitted to natural and legal persons and partnerships entered in the Crafts Register.
A standing trade is any trade whose activity cannot be attributed to itinerant trade or market trade. If several trades are practiced in your business, each of these trades subject to licensing must generally be entered in the register of trades.
Upon registration in the register of skilled crafts, the business becomes a member of the relevant Chamber of Skilled Crafts and is obligated to pay dues in accordance with the dues regulations of the relevant Chamber of Skilled Crafts.
Prerequisites
Entry in the register of skilled crafts requires that you - or a company manager employed by you - have the personal requirements for entry in the register of skilled crafts, i.e.
- have passed the master craftsman examination (Section 7 (1a) HwO), or
- meet the requirements of Section 7 (2) HwO, according to which engineers, graduates of technical colleges and of state or state-recognized technical colleges for technology and for design with the craft subject to licensing to which the study or school focus of their examination corresponds, are also entered in the register of skilled crafts. This also applies to persons who have successfully passed another German state or state-recognized examination at least equivalent to the master craftsman's examination for the practice of the relevant craft subject to licensing.
- have an exemption permit (Section 7 (3) HwO) or authorization to practice (Section 7 (7) HwO) for the craft in question (for details, see "Handicrafts Law; Exemption Permits as Prerequisites for Entry in the Register of Handicrafts"), or
- as a late resettler, can credibly prove to the Chamber of Crafts responsible for their place of permanent residence that they independently operated a craft as a permanent trade or were authorized to instruct apprentices prior to their resettlement. Section 10 (3) and (4) HwO shall apply mutatis mutandis to the substantiation.
Registration shall be effected upon application by the proprietor of the enterprise to the locally competent Chamber of Skilled Crafts. Registration in the register of skilled crafts is associated with the issue of a skilled crafts card. With the handicraft card you can legitimize yourself as a registered handicraft business.
The following must be submitted:
1. displaced person's identity card
2. documents proving that you are authorized to run a craft business in your home country or that you are authorized to train apprentices in your home country.
If the original documents as defined in No. 2 have been lost, credible evidence of this must be provided:
- by a written statement made in lieu of oath by a person who, due to his or her previous official position in the applicant's district (e.g. applicant of the trade office, chamber of crafts or chamber of commerce), has his or her own knowledge of the previous self-employed activity or the apprenticeship training authorization (if, for example, he or she registered the apprenticeship contract or was a member of an examination board or issued the trade card himself or herself), or
- by written statement in lieu of an oath by two persons who have their own knowledge of the training authorization or the previous self-employed activity, e.g. they have seen apprenticeship contracts in which the applicant is named as the instructor or they have seen the document containing the training authorization, etc.