Applying for the reinstatement of a business licence following a suspension
The competent authority had prohibited you from carrying on your business on the grounds of unreliability. If you wish to resume your business, you must submit an application for reinstatement. After one year has elapsed – or earlier if there are special reasons – the competent authority may authorise you to resume your business .
This is subject to you being able to demonstrate to the competent authority that the reasons which led to the prohibition of your business no longer apply. Furthermore, based on your conduct in the intervening period, the competent authority must be able to predict that you will carry on your business properly in future.
As a rule, authorisation to resume business may only be granted one year after the prohibition has been enforced. This period is prescribed by law and is intended to enable you to demonstrate to the authority, through a change in your lifestyle, that the grounds for your unreliability no longer apply. In exceptional cases – for example, for economic or structural policy reasons – authorisation to carry on the business may be reinstated earlier. This applies, for example, where resuming the business would create additional jobs or enable your company’s creditors to reduce their debts by generating revenue within your business that can be used to repay those debts.
The mere cessation of the circumstances giving rise to the unreliability is not sufficient in itself to shorten the one-year period.
Responsible authority
The local tax authority for your future place of business.
This is:
- the district administration office of the district responsible for you,
- in the case of independent cities and large district towns (cities and municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants), the city council, or
- in the case of smaller municipalities, the administrative association in certain cases.
Contact
Details
Prerequisite
A prerequisite for reinstatement is that you demonstrate to the competent authority that the reasons which led to the prohibition on carrying out your business no longer apply. The competent authority must be able to predict, on the basis of your conduct in the meantime, that you will carry on your business properly in future.
Procedure
- Submit an informal written or electronic (e.g. by email) application to the relevant authority requesting the reinstatement of your business activity, together with the necessary supporting documents.
- The relevant authority will assess whether, on the basis of the evidence you have provided, you can be authorised to resume your business activities.
- To this end, it will make a provisional decision based on the likelihood of you carrying out your business properly in future.
- If the conditions are met, you will receive a positive decision.
Deadlines
- Application: no earlier than one year after the ban; in exceptional cases, an earlier application may be possible.
Required documents
- Further details regarding the intended business activity
- Details of the location where you intend to carry out your business
- Evidence of how you have supported yourself since the business ban was imposed and whether you have been in paid employment
- Certificate of Good Conduct (application for a Certificate of Good Conduct for submission to a public authority)
- Extract from the Central Trade Register
- Extract from the debtors’ register and certificate from the insolvency court (available from the relevant local court or insolvency court)
- Up-to-date certificates from the trade tax office, tax office and social security authorities
Special considerations regarding outstanding payments:
If you had outstanding payments at the time of the previous business licence suspension, you must submit up-to-date certificates from the trade tax office, tax office and social security authorities in each case. These certificates must contain details of
- the amount of any outstanding arrears, broken down into principal and ancillary claims
- the period to which any principal claim relates
- any repayment agreements entered into following the business prohibition, their conclusion date, terms and compliance
- the implementation of enforcement measures, their nature and success
Special considerations in the event of a change of residence:
If you moved house following the business prohibition order at that time, you will need certificates from the insolvency court’s debtor register, the tax office and the business rates office, issued by both the current authorities and those responsible at the time of the business prohibition order.
Costs
The amount of the fees is determined in accordance with the municipality’s or town’s schedule of fees or the district administration’s fees regulation.
Miscellaneous
If you resume your business activities following the reinstatement of your licence, you must, at the very least, submit a business registration notification to the relevant authority at the same time. The resumption of your business activities is to be regarded as a new start to carrying out that business.
If a licence required by law to carry on the business has previously been revoked on the grounds of unreliability, you must reapply for a licence before resuming your business activity that requires a licence. The same applies if a new licensing requirement has been introduced in the meantime.
Legal basis
Gewerbeordnung (GewO):
- § 35 Absatz 6
Release note
Machine generated, based on the German release by: Wirtschaftsministerium Baden-Württemberg, 03.06.2026