🔨 Overview of trade law
In brief
As a tradesperson you work under several laws at the same time. That is normal. This page shows which ones they are.
- Handwerksordnung (HwO, Crafts Code): Who may run a business? Who is a member of the chamber of crafts (Handwerkskammer)?
- Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB, Civil Code): contract for work, acceptance, defects, late payment.
- Tax law: invoices, VAT, trade tax.
- Social law: pension, health insurance, employers' liability insurance association (Berufsgenossenschaft), notifications for employees.
- Berufsbildungsgesetz (BBiG, Vocational Training Act): training in the business.
Your rights as an employee (termination, leave, pay) are in the Employees module. This page is about the view of the business and the self-employed.
This page is information. It does not replace legal advice.
Step by step
- Assess your situationCheck whether your trade is subject to licensing. That determines whether you need a master craftsman certificate or an exception.
- Register your business properlyBusiness registration, trade register, tax office, employers' liability insurance association: these are the first notifications.
- Organise contracts and invoicesWritten quotations, acceptance records and invoices in the proper form save you disputes later.
- Get insuredSort out liability insurance, pension and health insurance before anything happens.
- Get helpThe chamber of crafts, the guild (Innung) and the district craftsmen's association (Kreishandwerkerschaft) often advise members free of charge or cheaply.
Deadlines
- Running a trade without being entered in the trade register, although it is subject to licensing, is not allowed (§ 1 Abs. 1 HwO).
- The legal position and figures change every year (minimum wage, contribution limits). Check the date of the source.
- This platform does not replace advice from the chamber, a tax adviser or a lawyer.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Structure of the Handwerksordnung
Under § 1 Abs. 1 HwO, a trade subject to licensing may be run as a fixed-location business only by someone entered in the trade register. A commercial business is a trade business if it is run in a craft-like manner and covers a trade listed in Anlage A in full or carries out essential activities of that trade (§ 1 Abs. 2 HwO). Activities are not essential if, for example, they can be learned within three months.
Chamber membership
Under § 90 HwO, owners of businesses in trades subject to licensing, in trades not subject to licensing and in craft-like trades in the district are members of the chamber of crafts, as are their journeymen, other employees with vocational training and apprentices.
Other areas of law
Orders follow the law on contracts for work in the BGB (§§ 631 ff.), supplemented for construction work by construction contract law (§§ 650a ff. BGB) and, if agreed, the VOB/B. Invoices are governed by § 14 UStG. For employees, social insurance law (SGB IV), minimum wage law and occupational safety law apply. In the construction industry, additional notification and carry-on-site duties apply (§ 28a Abs. 4 SGB IV, § 2a SchwarzArbG).
Structure of this module
The 15 pages follow the life cycle of a business: access, start-up, orders, money, insurance, team, duties, advice.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.