Documents Required for a Czech Trade License

The documents you need for a Czech trade license depend mainly on your citizenship, residence status, business address and the type of trade you want to register.

For an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen registering a free trade, the documents are usually quite simple.

You do not need Czech Temporary Residency or a Czech residence permit.

Non-EU citizens can also register a trade license, but their residence status affects which documents they need.

If you are registering a free trade, you do not need a diploma or proof of professional qualifications.

Qualifications are required only for trades where Czech law specifically requires them. 

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has separate registration guidance for EU/EEA/Swiss and non-EU applicants.

The documents you need therefore depend on your citizenship and residence status.

What ID do you need?

You need a valid passport or national ID where applicable.

For non-EU citizens, you may also need to provide your Czech residence document, such as a biometric residence card or visa sticker.

Your name and personal details used for the registration should match your identification document

Do EU citizens need Czech Temporary Residency?

No.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can register a Czech trade license without Czech Temporary Residency or a Czech residence permit.

You can register your trade even if you have never applied for Temporary Residency in the Czech Republic.

Do non-EU citizens need a residence permit?

It depends on your residence status.

Non-EU citizens can register a Czech trade license, but the documents depend on their current residence status.

For example, someone who already has a biometric residence card can have a different document list from someone who still needs to apply for a long-term visa or residence permit.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade therefore has separate registration guidance for non-EU/EEA/Swiss applicants.

Do EU citizens need a criminal clearance report?

Not always. EU citizens can be exempt from providing a criminal clearance report.

Whether the exemption applies depends on the applicant’s situation.

Czech law requires you to meet the integrity requirement (bezúhonnost). The documents you need to prove this depend on your situation.

For EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who do not live in the Czech Republic, the Ministry provides guidance on which foreign criminal-record documents can be used.

How old can a criminal clearance report be?

If you need to provide a foreign criminal-record document, under § 46 of the Czech Trade Licensing Act, it cannot be older than 3 months.

So don’t arrange it too early if you are not ready to register yet. 

What do you need for your business address?

Every trade needs a registered business address.

You do not need to rent an office. You can use your home address or a virtual business address.

If you use your own home or another property, you may need Business Address Consent from the property owner to confirm that you have the right to register your business there.

Pexpats provides a virtual business address in an office building in Prague 1 together with contact agent support.

This means a Pexpats employee can act as your local contact person and communicate with Czech authorities on your behalf.

If you want to use your own address, you can also generate Business Address Consent using the Pexpats online tool.

Can you use Proof of Accommodation or a rental agreement?

Usually not.

Proof of Accommodation used for your visa or residency is not the same as Business Address Consent for your trade license.

A standard apartment rental agreement is also normally for residential use and does not give you the property owner’s consent to register your business at the address.

If you want to use your rented apartment as your business address, ask your landlord or the property owner for Business Address Consent.

Do you need a diploma?

Not for a free trade.

Many freelancers can register without showing a university degree, professional certificate or previous work experience.

Free trades have no professional-competence requirement. Craft and tied trades do, while concessions can have professional and other conditions.  

For example, IT services can fall under a free trade, hairdressing is a craft trade, accounting is a tied trade, and taxi services require a concession

What can you use to prove professional qualifications?

It depends on the trade.

For a craft trade, professional competence can be proved in several ways, including relevant education, vocational retraining or professional experience.  

For tied trades, the required qualification is set for the particular activity.

You don’t need any of these documents for a free trade.

What do you need for foreign qualifications and documents?

A foreign qualification can be used, but additional documents or recognition may be required.

This depends on the qualification, the country where it was issued and the trade you want to register.

Foreign documents may also need an apostille or another form of legalization and an official Czech translation.

The requirements depend on the document and the country where it was issued.

If you are registering a free trade, you do not need to prove professional qualifications.

Do you need a Power of Attorney?

Only if somebody else registers the trade for you on your behalf.

If you register personally, you don’t need one.

If another person or company completes the registration for you, the Power of Attorney allows them to submit the documents and communicate with the Trade License Office on your behalf.

This means the registration can be completed without you personally visiting the Trade License Office.

Can foreigners register a Czech trade license online?

Czech citizens can normally submit a trade license registration online using the Single Registration Form (Jednotný registrační formulář / JRF).

For Czech citizens, much of the required information can already be verified through Czech public registers. For example, Czech criminal-record information can be checked by the Trade License Office.

If a Czech citizen uses their registered residence as their business address, separate proof of the business address is also not required.

When they submit the application using an accepted Czech electronic identification method, their identity can also be verified electronically.

This means they do not normally need to visit the Trade License Office afterward simply to prove who they are.

For foreigners, the process is different. Foreigners can submit the JRF electronically, but not every foreigner has access to the same Czech electronic identification methods.

Access depends on the person’s residence status, Czech-issued documents and whether they are recorded in the relevant Czech systems.

Foreigners also have additional document requirements that do not apply to Czech citizens.

Depending on their citizenship and residence status, this can include a foreign criminal-record document, residence documents and proof that they have the right to use their business address.

The required original documents must be provided to the Trade License Office for verification and cannot simply be replaced by copies uploaded with the online application.

What happens if a document is missing?

Your trade license registration is not automatically rejected because a document is missing.

Under § 47 of the Czech Trade Licensing Act, if your application is incomplete, the Trade License Office will ask you to provide or correct the missing information and give you a deadline of at least 15 days.

While the office is waiting for you to fix the application, the registration process is paused.

If you provide everything within the deadline, your application continues and can be completed. If you do not fix the missing documents within the deadline, the Trade License Office can decide that your trade authorization did not arise.

There is a special procedure for certain non-EU foreigners who need a Czech long-term visa or long-term residence permit.

If you meet the other requirements, the Trade License Office can first issue an extract that you can use for your visa or residence application. At this stage, you do not yet have the right to start working under the trade.

After receiving the required visa or residence permit, you must provide it to the Trade License Office within the required deadline. The law also sets a maximum period of six months from receiving the initial extract.

If you provide the required residence document on time, the Trade License Office can complete the registration and your trade authorization can become active.

If you do not provide the residence document within six months, the Trade License Office will decide that you did not meet the conditions for the trade authorization.

You cannot simply activate the original registration later.

If you obtain the required residence document after the registration has already failed, you will need to make a new trade license registration.

Frequently Asked Questions