You are engaged in a travelling trade if you offer goods for sale on a commercial basis without a prior order (appointment) and are active outside your commercial establishment (Section 4 (3) GewO) or without having such an establishment. The same applies if you seek out (distribute) orders for goods or purchase goods, offer services or seek out orders for services or carry out entertainment activities as a showman or in the manner of a showman.

However, there are also activities that can be classified as travelling trade, but for which there is no obligation to obtain a permit. You do not need a travel trade permit in the following cases:

• You occasionally offer goods for sale at trade fairs, exhibitions, public festivals or on special occasions with the permission of the competent authority;
• you sell home-grown produce from agriculture and forestry, market gardening, fruit-growing and horticulture, poultry farming and bee-keeping as well as hunting and fishing;
• you carry on one of the activities referred to in Section 55(1)(1) of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act in your municipality of residence or in the municipality of your commercial establishment, provided that the municipality has no more than 10 000 inhabitants;
• you supply milk or, in the case of this activity, milk products on the basis of a licence pursuant to Section 4 of the Milk and Margarine Act.
• They broker or conclude insurance contracts within the meaning of Section 34d(6) or (7)(1) and (2) of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung) or building society contracts as insurance intermediaries or provide advice on insurance within the meaning of Section 34d(2)(1) in conjunction with Section 34d(7)(2) as insurance advisers or are employed in the business of such an insurance adviser.
• They exercise a trade requiring a licence under federal or state law, for the exercise of which reliability is required, and already have the necessary licence;
• They broker financial investments as financial investment brokers or advise third parties on financial investments within the meaning of section 34f(3)(4), also in conjunction with section 34h(1)(4) of the GewO, or are employed in the business of such a broker;
• They broker real estate loan agreements or advise third parties on such agreements within the meaning of Section 34i(4), also in conjunction with Section 34i(5), GewO;
• They distribute foodstuffs or other goods for daily use at regular, shorter intervals at the same location from a non-fixed sales outlet or other facility;
• They offer printed matter for sale on public ways, streets, squares or other public places.
• They seek out other persons in the course of their business.
• They are active at an event established in accordance with Section 69 of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (GewO) under Title IV (trade fairs, exhibitions, markets).