Eintragung in die Handwerksrolle mit der Meisterprüfung gleichgestellter inländischer Prüfung

If you want to work independently in a craft requiring a license and have a domestic professional qualification equivalent to a master craftsman's examination, you must first be entered in the Register of Craftsmen.

With a domestic professional qualification equivalent to a master craftsman's examination, you can exercise a craft requiring a license as a permanent trade in Germany. Before setting up a business, you must be entered in the Register of Craftsmen.

The Register of Craftsmen is a register kept by your local Chamber of Crafts.

The Register of Craftsmen lists, among other things

• natural persons,
• partnerships with legal capacity or
• legal entities and
• the name and qualifications of the company management.

Registration in the Register of Craftsmen is mandatory if you

• wish to exercise a craft requiring a license,
• only want to practise the craft in part and
• wish to carry out essential activities of several trades, then for each of these trades.

To be entered in the Register of Craftsmen, you or the company management must provide proof that you have successfully completed a master craftsman's examination for the trade to be practiced or an equivalent professional qualification.

The following are eligible as management

• Owners of the craft business or
• persons employed by the craft business

In addition to a corresponding master craftsman qualification, proof of qualification may be a certificate of a passed examination to become a certified industrial foreman.

You can find a complete list of the trades requiring authorization in Appendix A of the Crafts Code (HwO).

The relevant chambers of skilled crafts provide further information on this service. Please contact your local Chamber of Crafts for more information.

For sole proprietorships:

• Identity card or comparable identification document (copy)
• Presentation of equivalent domestic professional qualification (copy)
• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen.

For companies under civil law (GbR):

• Identity card or comparable identification document of the partners or authorized representatives (copy)
• Articles of association if not concluded informally (copy)
• Presentation of equivalent domestic professional qualification (copy)
• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen

For commercial partnerships with legal capacity:

• This refers to
  • General partnership (OHG),
  • limited partnership (KG) and
  • corresponding foreign company forms
• Identity card or a comparable identification document of the shareholders or authorized representatives (copy)
• for proof of the legal form of the company:
  • if the company is based in Germany:
    • for companies entered in the commercial register: extract from the register, for general partnerships additionally a copy of the articles of association
    • if no entry in the register has been made: copy of the articles of association
  • for foreign legal forms:
    • For companies, extract from the register of the competent foreign register, otherwise
    • Copy of the articles of association
• Presentation of equivalent domestic professional qualification (copy)
• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen.

For legal entities:

• This refers to:
  • Limited liability company (GmbH),
  • Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt), Aktiengesellschaft (AG),
  • registered cooperative (eG)
• Identity card or comparable identification document of the persons authorized to represent the company (copy)
• for proof of the entrepreneurial legal form:
  • for companies based in Germany: extract from the commercial or cooperative register
  • for foreign legal forms: Extract from the relevant foreign register
  • Business registration (copy): can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen
  • Details of the company management

If a manager is employed, the following documents must also be submitted:

• Declaration of management
• Proof of management activity: employment contract (copy)
• Proof of social insurance for the manager
• Submission of equivalent domestic professional qualification (copy)

• You or the company management must have successfully completed a master craftsman's examination for the craft requiring a license or
• You must provide evidence of an equivalent German state or state-recognized professional qualification, such as a certificate of successful completion of the examination to become a certified industrial foreman.
• The focus of the training must correspond to the trades that you want to carry out with your company.

The specific fee can be found in the Chamber of Crafts' schedule of fees, which is available on the Chamber's website.

You can apply for entry in the Register of Craftsmen online or in writing to your local Chamber of Crafts.

Please obtain information about the procedure from the relevant Chamber of Skilled Crafts. You can also have the necessary documents sent to you.

• Submit your application documents to your local Chamber of Skilled Crafts.
• The Chamber of Skilled Crafts will check your application for completeness and, based on the certificate, whether the focus of the qualification corresponds to the trade you wish to pursue.
• In cases of doubt, you can submit evidence of individual achievements (such as seminar papers or dissertations) during your training as well as framework curricula and training regulations for the examination.
• If you meet the registration requirements, you will be notified in advance of your expected registration.
• Once you have been registered, you will receive a written certificate from your local Chamber of Skilled Crafts. Your business will receive the so-called craftsman's card.
• If the registration is rejected, you will receive a notification from the local Chamber of Skilled Crafts.

If all documents are complete and no further procedure is necessary, the Chamber of Skilled Crafts must make the entry in the Register of Skilled Crafts within 3 months, otherwise the entry is deemed to have been made after this period has expired.

You must be entered in the Register of Craftsmen before starting work.

There are no indications or special features.

• You have the right to appeal against a rejection of your application for entry in the Register of Craftsmen.
• Depending on the federal state in which you have submitted the application, a preliminary procedure will be carried out first.
• Please refer to the instructions on legal remedies in your notification for information on the legal remedies available.

• Register of skilled craftsmen Registration of persons with equivalent domestic examination
• Register of craftsmen as a register of all owners of a business of a craft requiring a license in a standing trade
• Registration concerns
  • natural and legal persons
  • partnerships with legal capacity
• legal obligation to register:
  • all business owners with a craft requiring a license in a standing trade must be registered in the craft register
  • Does not apply to itinerant trades or market trading
• Register contents include
  • Craft requiring a license in the standing trade
  • Name and qualification of the management
• Business owners or business managers must
  • have successfully completed a master craftsman's examination for the trade to be practiced or
  • provide evidence of an equivalent professional qualification.
• Qualifications equivalent to the master craftsman's examination for the trade to be practiced include, among others
  • German state or state-recognized examinations, e.g. qualification as a certified industrial master craftsperson
• Applications can be submitted in writing or partially online to the local Chamber of Skilled Crafts
• Deadline: before taking up the craft activity
• Fees: Amount depends on the fee schedule of the responsible Chamber of Skilled Crafts
• Responsible: Chamber of Skilled Crafts in whose district the commercial establishment is intended

Please contact the Chamber of Crafts in whose district the commercial establishment is located.