Termination of a licensed trade

Expiry of the validity period of the authorisation

The trade authorisation was issued for a fixed period. What happens when the validity period of the authorisation expires and what are the conditions for renewing such authorisation.

Application for termination of a trade authorisation

I no longer want to continue my business and I want to apply for the termination of my trade authorisation (Section 58(7) of the Trade Licensing Act).

Death of the entrepreneur

What happens to the trade authorisation if the entrepreneur dies and what are the conditions for continuing the trade upon the entrepreneur’s death (Section 13 of the Trade Licensing Act).

Transformation of a company or cooperative

The company or cooperative has been dissolved through merger or division, or the assets have been transferred to a member – what are the conditions for continuing a trade in the event of a merger or division of a company or cooperative (Section 14 of the Trade Licensing Act).

There are two types of reasons for the termination of a trade authorisation, depending on whether the termination of the trade authorisation takes place independently of the entrepreneur’s will and results from other circumstances and acts, or whether the termination results from the expressed will of the entrepreneur or, if relevant, from the entrepreneur’s inaction.

Firstly, there are reasons for termination that depend on external circumstances and do not require any active act from the entrepreneur or their successors towards the trade licensing office. This mainly includes the termination of a trade authorisation:

On the death of the entrepreneur, unless the trade is further carried on by authorised persons for a temporary period
Upon the dissolution of a legal person, unless the dissolution involves the transfer of rights and obligations to a successor entity
On the deletion of a foreign person mandatorily registered in the commercial register or its objects of business from the commercial register
If a special legal regulation provides for the termination of the trade authorisation
By a decision of the trade licensing office to revoke the trade authorisation due to a serious violation of the conditions laid down in the Trade Licensing Act and specific legislation

A trade authorisation may also terminate based on the expressed will of the entrepreneur or, where relevant, their successors, or for reasons arising from the conditions specified for a specific trade authorisation (e.g. limitation of the validity period, etc.) or from the regime in which the trade authorisation is temporarily performed by the entrepreneur’s successor. In these cases, the termination of the trade authorisation mainly occurs:

Upon expiry of the validity period
At the entrepreneur’s request
Upon the termination of a trade by the successor upon the entrepreneur’s death
Upon the termination of a trade authorisation whose existence was tied to a successor entity after the transformation of a company or cooperative or after the transfer of assets to a member

The following section of the guide deals only with the second type of termination of trade authorisation, i.e. those cases where termination results from to the acts of the entrepreneur or their successors towards the trade licensing office.