Service Finder
Auctioneer business permit application
Service Description
If you wish to auction off movable property, land or rights belonging to third parties on a commercial basis, you require permission from the competent authority. The permit may be subject to conditions if this is necessary for the protection of the general public, the clients or the bidders.
In the case of partnerships (e.g. OHG, KG), each managing partner is a trader. In the case of legal entities (e.g. GmbH, AG), permission is granted to the legal entity.
As an auctioneer you may not:
- bid at your auctions yourself or through another person for yourself or buy auction goods entrusted to you,
- allow relatives or your employees to bid at your auctions or to purchase auction goods entrusted to you,
- bid for another person at your auctions or purchase auction goods entrusted to you, unless you have a written bid from the other person,
- auction movable property from among the goods you carry in your commercial business, unless it is customary to do so,
- sell goods at auction,
- you have a lien on, or
- if they belong to the goods that you offer in open sales outlets and which are unused or whose intended use consists in their consumption (consumer goods).
Process flow
You must apply for permission to hold auctions in writing or in person to the relevant authority.
After the examination, you will either receive the permit or a notice of refusal. A permit may be subject to certain conditions. It is also permissible to add, change and supplement conditions at a later date.
Who should I contact?
Please contact the relevant trade authority.
Requirements
Prerequisites are
- personal reliability and
- orderly financial circumstances.
You will not receive a permit if
- facts justify the assumption that you, as the applicant, do not possess the reliability required for the business operation.
As a rule, you do not have the required reliability if you have been convicted of a crime or of theft, embezzlement, extortion, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, forgery of documents, receiving stolen goods, usury or of an offense against the law against unfair competition in the last five years prior to filing the application. - you, as the applicant, are living in disorderly financial circumstances.
This is usually the case if insolvency proceedings have been opened against your assets or you are entered in the register kept by the insolvency court or the enforcement court.
Which documents are required?
- Identity card or comparable identification document (copy)
- Non-EU citizens: residence permit (copy)
- Proof of entrepreneurial legal form
- Company registered office in Germany:
- Commercial register excerpt for registered company
- If applicable, a copy of the partnership agreement (e.g. in the case of a partnership under civil law (GbR))
- Company domicile abroad: documents from this country proving the legal form of the company
- Company registered office in Germany:
- Proof of personal reliability
- Residence in Germany:
- Certificate of good conduct
- Extract from the central business register for natural persons and, if applicable, legal entities
- Residence abroad: documents from your home country proving that you have the personal reliability to perform the requested service
- The authority may request further documents on a case-by-case basis that are suitable for making a statement about your personal reliability as an applicant.
- Residence in Germany:
- Proof of orderly financial circumstances
- Residence in Germany:
- Extract from the debtors' register
- Certificate from the insolvency court
- Certificate from the tax office in tax matters
- Residence abroad: documents from your home country proving that you are living in orderly financial circumstances
- Residence in Germany:
What are the fees?
Depending on the case, the fees can range from 50.00 to 1,500.00 euros.
What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?
You must apply for the permit before starting the activity. Only after the permission is granted, you are entitled to practice the trade.
Constructive Approval: 3 Months
Legal basis
What else should I know?
In addition to obtaining permission, you must register the trade with the relevant municipality.
The authorities have information and inspection rights vis-à-vis traders. At the request of the authorities, the parties concerned must provide the information required to monitor business operations. Furthermore, the authorities are authorized to enter the business premises in order to carry out inspections and surveys.
Furthermore, as an auctioneer, you are subject to the requirements of the Auctioneer Ordinance when practicing your trade. For example, you must
- prepare a list of the items to be auctioned no later than two weeks before the auction, in which the items to be auctioned from each client must be uniformly identified
- notify the competent authority and the chamber of industry and commerce in whose district the auction is to be held in writing of each auction at least two weeks before the planned auction date, stating the place and time of the auction as well as the type of goods to be auctioned off
- give the auctioneer the opportunity to inspect the goods to be auctioned for a period of at least two hours
- keep a record of each auction order and its execution.
On application, particularly competent auctioneers, with the exception of legal entities, may be publicly appointed and sworn in by the competent authority. As a publicly appointed auctioneer, you must take an oath that you will perform your duties conscientiously and impartially.
Retailers and manufacturers of goods may sell goods they carry in their business operations at retail to the ultimate consumer by auction only as holders of an auctioneer's license or through an auctioneer appointed by them.
Author
The text was automatically translated based on the German content per DeepL.
Technically approved by
Thuringian Ministry for Economy, Science and Digital Society
Professionally released on
23.11.2021
Source: Zuständigkeitsfinder Thüringen (Linie6Plus)
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