The Austrian trade licence: do you need a Gewerbeberechtigung to operate?

Every trade is either free or regulated — and the difference is enormous

The Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung 1994, GewO) splits commercial activities into two tracks. Free trades (freie Gewerbe) require no formal proof of qualification: you notify the authority and may generally begin at once. Regulated trades (reglementierte Gewerbe) require a proof of competence — the Befähigungsnachweis — before the activity can be exercised. The regulated trades are listed by law, with roughly 75 of them enumerated in §94 GewO, from skilled crafts to management consultancy.

Getting this classification right is the whole game. A founder who assumes "we just do consulting / IT / trading" and discovers the activity is actually regulated loses weeks arranging a managing director and a competence proof that should have been planned at formation.

First check whether the Trade Regulation applies at all

Not every economic activity is a "trade" in the GewO sense. A trade is broadly an independent, regular activity carried on with the intention of profit. Several categories sit outside the Act entirely and follow their own professional rules instead.

So the sequence is: is this a trade under the GewO at all; if yes, is it free or regulated; and if regulated, who will provide the proof of competence. Answer those three before you promise a client a start date.

The fast path: notify, and generally begin the same day

For a free trade, there is no qualification hurdle. The company (or individual) files a trade notification (Gewerbeanmeldung) with the competent authority, the trade is entered in the trade register, and the activity may generally be exercised from the notification — often the same day the paperwork is complete. A GISA extract then serves as the digital proof of the authorisation.

What still has to be true: the applicant must meet the general personal requirements (such as age and the absence of certain disqualifying circumstances), and a company carrying on the trade still needs a trade-law managing director. "Free" removes the competence proof; it does not remove the company-level formalities.

The proof of competence can be formal — or individually assessed

A regulated trade may be exercised only once the proof of competence is established. The law sets out, for each regulated trade, what counts: typically a combination of relevant qualifications and practical experience, often evidenced by a formal certificate such as a master-craftsman or qualifying examination, or a prescribed mix of education and years of work.

Where an applicant does not hold the exact formal certificate but genuinely has the knowledge, skills and experience, Austrian law allows an individueller Befähigungsnachweis — an individual assessment of competence. The authority examines the actual evidence of ability rather than insisting on one specific diploma. This route is particularly relevant for experienced foreign founders whose credentials do not map one-to-one onto the Austrian certificate system.

A company always needs a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer

When a legal entity — a GmbH, FlexCo or AG — carries on a trade, it must appoint a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer under §39 GewO. This is the person who is responsible to the authority for compliance with trade law and who, for a regulated trade, carries the proof of competence on the company's behalf. It is a distinct role from the commercial managing director (the Firmenbuch Geschäftsführer), although one person can sometimes hold both.

For foreign-owned companies entering a regulated trade, finding a qualifying trade-law managing director who meets the residence and employment conditions is frequently the real bottleneck — and it is far better identified at the planning stage than discovered after the company is registered.

Credentials earned abroad can be recognised — through a defined procedure

A qualification obtained outside Austria is not automatically valid for a regulated Austrian trade, but it is not a dead end either. For applicants from the EU and EEA, there is an established recognition and equivalence framework that lets professional qualifications and work actually performed abroad be assessed and, where appropriate, recognised — sometimes with a supplementary measure to bridge any gap.

For qualifications from outside the EU/EEA, an equivalence procedure (Gleichhaltung) is generally available, assessed case by case against the Austrian competence requirements and potentially requiring additional evidence or training. Either way, the practical move is the same: start the recognition early, because it runs on the authority's timetable, not yours, and it can determine whether the founder personally can be the trade-law managing director or whether a qualified hire is needed.

From notification to a live GISA entry

The trade authorisation is handled by the competent trade authority (the district administrative authority or, in cities, the municipal authority). The core sequence is straightforward; the complexity is concentrated in the competence proof for regulated trades.

• 1 · Classify the activity — determine whether it is a trade, and whether it is free or regulated, in precise GewO terms.
• 2 · Arrange the proof — for a regulated trade, line up the Befähigungsnachweis or the recognition of a foreign qualification.
• 3 · Appoint the managing director — identify and appoint the gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer meeting the §39 conditions.
• 4 · File the Gewerbeanmeldung — submit the trade notification with the company and competence documents.
• 5 · GISA entry — the trade is entered in the Gewerbeinformationssystem Austria and a GISA number is issued; the extract is the proof of authorisation.
• 6 · Operate & maintain — begin trading, and keep the entry current as the company, activities or managing director change.

"Consulting", sensitive trades and the ancillary-rights question

Three recurring misconceptions cause most of the avoidable trouble.

The practical test is to describe, in concrete terms, exactly what the company will do for customers — then classify each strand. Businesses that bundle several activities under one loose heading are the ones most likely to need more than one authorisation.

The authorisation is a living record, not a one-off certificate

Once the trade is live, the GISA entry has to keep describing reality. Several events require action with the trade authority, and letting them drift is a frequent source of problems at the next audit, bank review or corporate change.

Trade-law compliance, corporate maintenance and tax should be coordinated — a company whose GISA entry, Firmenbuch and activity description tell three different stories invites exactly the scrutiny it wants to avoid.