What Are the 4 Criteria for a Business Permit in Luxembourg?

To get a business permit in Luxembourg (autorisation d’établissement), you must meet 4 legal criteria. These apply whether you are starting a commercial activity, a craft, or a regulated liberal profession.

These requirements come from the Law of 2 September 2011 (amended 26 July 2023) regulating access to commercial, craft, and certain liberal professions.

1. Professional integrity

You must have a clean professional record. This means:

• No relevant criminal convictions
• No evasion of social security or tax obligations (including withholding taxes) in previous or current activities
• No significant debts to public creditors left in a bankruptcy or judicial liquidation; listing a bankruptcy is no automatic refusal, says Guichet.lu’s checklist for a commercial activity

To prove this, you submit:

• A criminal record extract (extrait du casier judiciaire, bulletin numéro 3) — free of charge; the application form asks for one less than 6 months old if you already have a Luxembourg national ID number (matricule)
• A declaration of honour (déclaration sur l’honneur) — part of the application form itself (its section 4, Déclaration sur l’honneur): you disclose any management positions, majority shareholdings, or significant influence over companies in the previous 3 years (or tick “I have neither exercised…”). It is NOT a “no bankruptcy” assertion. In section 3 of the form, you either let the Ministry look into your files, and those of companies you manage, managed or influenced, at the AED (VAT), the ACD (direct tax) and the CCSS (social security), or attach those certificates yourself.
• If you lived outside Luxembourg in the last 10 years: criminal records from all countries where you resided, plus a notarial declaration of non-bankruptcy

If you have been a Luxembourg resident for more than 10 years, you only need the Luxembourg criminal record (bulletin 3) and the declaration of honour in the form. No foreign records or notarial bankruptcy declaration required.

We explain the full process in our article on how to prove a clean professional history.

The guides on the business permit take the application and each activity with rules of its own further.

2. Professional qualification

What you need depends on your activity type, according to Guichet.lu’s pages on List A, List B and List C crafts and on HORECA:

Lists A, B, and C are part of the artisan (craft) classification. Commercial activities are a separate category — they do not appear on these lists and generally require no professional qualification.

Practical tip: If you don’t have the exact diploma, professional experience can sometimes substitute. The Ministry evaluates this case by case. Contact the House of Entrepreneurship for free guidance.

We covered which activities need no qualification in our article on business activities that need no qualification.

3. Fixed premises in Luxembourg

You must have a physical address in Luxembourg with infrastructure suitable for your activity. What counts:

• Home address — works for intellectual services (IT consulting, translation, accounting, etc.)
• Rented office or commercial space — needed for retail, craft workshops, restaurants
• Coworking space — can work only if your contract lets you use the space as your business’s establishment, not just its address: article 5 of the law asks for appropriate premises and equipment, where the business is actually managed and all its documents are accessible at any time

You prove this with a copy of your lease agreement or a residence certificate (certificat de residence). The application form asks for the address first: the lease or other proof of establishment can follow, at the latest in a second step after your file has been examined.

We go into more detail in our article on what counts as a fixed place of operation.

4. Effective management

Since 2023, article 4 of the law requires the person named on the business permit to run the day-to-day management effectively and permanently, physically present in the establishment. This means:

• You are physically present in the establishment
• You make the day-to-day business decisions
• You cannot just lend your name to someone else’s business

This applies to both sole traders and company directors. If you are a non-resident, the same applies: you run the business by being present in the establishment.

What documents do I need?

The exact list depends on whether you have been a Luxembourg resident for more than 10 years:

How long does it take?

According to Guichet.lu, the Ministry of Economy processes complete applications within up to 3 months. In practice, files took 6.62 days on average in 2025, according to the government’s press release of 2 July 2026. If you receive no response within 3 months, the permit is considered tacitly granted.

For the full picture of setup timing — permit, CCSS, AED, ACD, bank account, and start-up aid window — see our overview on how long it takes to become self-employed in Luxembourg.

The key word is “complete.” Incomplete applications cause delays. Double-check every document before submitting.

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