Which Austrian trades may you not start immediately?
Thirteen of them. The normal Austrian rule is generous: register your trade completely and you may begin working, without waiting for a decision. For thirteen items of § 94 that is precisely not the case — and someone who does not know the difference commits an offence without noticing.
What the law says
§ 95 Abs 1 GewO requires the authority to examine the reliability (Zuverlässigkeit) of the applicant for the trades listed below (§ 87 Abs 1 Z 3). For legal persons and registered partnerships this concerns the persons named in § 13 Abs 7. And then comes the sentence this page is about:
„Mit der Gewerbeausübung darf der Anmelder erst mit der Rechtskraft des Bescheides gemäß § 340 beginnen.“
In English: you may begin exercising the trade only once the decision under § 340 has become final.
The thirteen trades
§ 95 Abs 1 refers to items 5, 10, 16, 18, 25, 32, 36, 56, 62, 65, 75, 80 and 82 of § 94 GewO. The designations are the statutory German ones — that is what the law says and what your Bescheid will say:
| Item | Trade (statutory designation) |
|---|---|
| § 94 Z 5 | Baumeister, Brunnenmeister |
| § 94 Z 10 | Chemische Laboratorien |
| § 94 Z 16 | Elektrotechnik |
| § 94 Z 18 | Pyrotechnische Artikel (Erzeugung + Handel) |
| § 94 Z 25 | Gas- und Sanitärtechnik |
| § 94 Z 32 | Herstellung von Arzneimitteln und Giften |
| § 94 Z 36 | Inkassoinstitute |
| § 94 Z 56 | Reisebüros |
| § 94 Z 62 | Sicherheitsgewerbe (Berufsdetektive, Bewachung) |
| § 94 Z 65 | Sprengungsunternehmen |
| § 94 Z 75 | Gewerbliche Vermögensberatung |
| § 94 Z 80 | Waffengewerbe (Büchsenmacher) inkl. Waffenhandel |
| § 94 Z 82 | Holzbau-Meister |
The items come from the text of the law, not from our own records. That is deliberate: a list generated from our own data would only confirm what we already entered there.
A second difference that is easily missed
Under § 95 Abs 2 GewO, appointing a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer or a branch manager for these trades requires approval. Elsewhere a notification is enough; here you must apply, and the approval is to be granted if the conditions of § 39 Abs 2 or § 47 Abs 2 respectively are met. So anyone entering one of these trades through a qualified manager should plan for one more step with the authority.
What is open here
For Versicherungsvermittlung (insurance mediation) our dataset also records "not immediately possible". That entry is not covered by § 95 Abs 1 — the item does not appear there, and § 137 GewO says nothing to that effect. It may rest on a different basis (insurance mediation has its own, EU-shaped regime) which we have not checked. We therefore leave the entry standing and say that it is unverified, rather than quietly adding it to the list above.
Frequently asked
What is a Zuverlässigkeitsgewerbe?
A trade for which the authority checks, before you start, whether you possess the required reliability. § 95 Abs 1 GewO lists thirteen items of § 94 for which this applies. It is not an additional qualification exam — it is an examination of the person under § 87 Abs 1 Z 3.
May I start working right after registering?
No — and that is the whole difference. § 95 Abs 1 GewO says verbatim: „Mit der Gewerbeausübung darf der Anmelder erst mit der Rechtskraft des Bescheides gemäß § 340 beginnen.“ For every other trade the normal rule applies, that you may begin once the registration is complete. Not here.
What happens if I start earlier anyway?
Then you are exercising a trade without having obtained the required trade licence. § 366 Abs 1 Z 1 GewO makes that punishable: an administrative offence carrying a fine of up to 3 600 €. The decision does not merely have to exist — it has to be final.
Does anything special apply to the managing director?
Yes. For these trades the appointment of a gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer or branch manager requires approval under § 95 Abs 2 GewO — it is not merely notified, it must be applied for. The approval is to be granted if the conditions of § 39 Abs 2 or § 47 Abs 2 respectively are met.
Does this also apply to companies?
Yes. For a legal person or a registered partnership, § 95 Abs 1 GewO refers to the persons named in § 13 Abs 7 — what is examined is not the company as such, but that defined circle of people.
Sources
- GewO § 95 (RIS) — the reliability examination, Abs 1 (list of items, start only once the decision is final) and Abs 2 (approval of the managing director). Retrieved 6 September 2026.
- GewO § 366 Abs 1 Z 1 (RIS) — the penalty for exercising a trade without a licence. Retrieved 6 September 2026.
- GewO § 340 (RIS) — the registration procedure and the decision whose finality § 95 relies on.