Eintragung in die Handwerksrolle mit einem Hochschulabschluss aus der EU, dem EWR oder der Schweiz

Have you completed a university degree in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland and the focus of your studies was in a craft requiring a license? If so, you can set up a business in Germany and must first be entered in the register of craftsmen.

The Register of Craftsmen is a register in which all

• natural persons

• partnerships and

• legal entities

who operate a craft requiring a license as a standing trade. Itinerant trades and market trades do not count as standing trades.

You can find a complete list of trades requiring registration in Appendix A of the Crafts Code (HwO). The trade does not have to be exercised as a whole, as the exercise of essential (partial) activities is also possible. Conversely, it is conceivable that several trades or essential activities of several trades are to be practiced.

Furthermore, the business manager who is responsible for the professional and technical management of the craft business and who has the necessary professional qualification to practice the craft requiring a license is entered in the Register of Craftsmen. Both the owners of craft businesses and employed persons are eligible as managers. Proof of qualification can be provided by submitting a university degree certificate from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. The focus of study must correspond to the craft that is to be practiced.

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

For sole proprietorships:

• Identity card or comparable identification document (copy)

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, EEA or Switzerland (copy)

• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the trade register

For companies under civil law (GbR):

• Identity card or comparable identification document of the partners (copy)

• Articles of association, if not concluded informally (copy)

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, the EEA or Switzerland (copy) of the personally liable partner responsible for the technical management of the business or the employed management (copy)

• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the trade register

For commercial partnerships entered in the commercial register:

• This refers to

• General partnership (OHG)

• Limited partnership (KG)

• corresponding foreign company forms

• Identity card or comparable identification document of the shareholders or authorized representatives (copy)

For companies domiciled in Germany:

• for companies entered in the commercial register: extract from the register, articles of association (copy)

• if not entered in the register: articles of association (copy)

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, the EEA or Switzerland (copy) of the personally liable partner responsible for the technical management of the company or the employed management (copy)

• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen

For foreign legal forms:

• Extract from the register, if already entered in the foreign register, otherwise

• Articles of association (copy)

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, EEA or Switzerland (copy) of the personally liable partner responsible for the technical management of the business or the employed management (copy)

• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen

For legal entities:

• This refers to

• Limited liability company (GmbH)

• Entrepreneurial company (haftungsbeschränkt)

• public limited company (AG)

• registered cooperative (eG)

• Identity card or comparable identification document of the authorized representatives (copy)

• for companies based in Germany: extract from the register, articles of association (copy)

• for foreign legal forms: Extract from the register of the competent foreign register, articles of association (copy)

• Business registration (copy): Can be submitted after entry in the register of craftsmen

• Details of the company management

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, EEA or Switzerland (copy) of the employed company management

If you employ a manager, you must also submit the following information

• Declaration of plant manager

• Employment contract (copy)

• Proof of social insurance of the plant manager (copy)

• Degree certificate from a university within the EU, EEA or Switzerland (copy)

If you employ a second person as a company manager, you must also submit the company manager's declaration with the other documents mentioned for this person. This may be the case, for example, if you wish to exercise several trades requiring a license as a standing trade.

You, the personally liable partner responsible for the technical management of the company or your company management must have successfully completed a university degree within the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. The major field of study must correspond to the craft requiring a license that is to be practiced.

The amount of the fees can be found in the fee schedule of the responsible Chamber of Crafts.

You can apply for entry in the Register of Craftsmen in writing or, in some cases, online at 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

• Once you have been registered, you will receive a written certificate from your local Chamber of Skilled Crafts. Your company 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.

Processing time: 3 months

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

• 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 existing legal remedies

• Handicrafts register Registration of persons with a university degree from the EU/EEA/CH

• 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 persons

• partnerships and

• legal entities

• 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 qualifications of the company management

• Company owners or managers must provide proof of a technical university education within the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, the focus of which corresponds to the craft to be practiced

• Proof of qualification: university degree certificate from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland

• Application 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 relevant Chamber of Skilled Crafts

• Responsible: Chamber of Skilled Crafts in whose district the commercial establishment is intended