If you want to operate a private hospital, you need a license under trade law.

A hospital, as defined by commercial law, is an institution that serves to heal and care for patients and in which patients are treated as inpatients, i.e. are also accommodated and fed.

Only private, commercially operated hospitals require such a permit. Public institutions and those operated for non-profit, charitable or scientific purposes do not need a permit. In contrast to these, the entrepreneur who operates the private hospital has the intention of making a profit through the operation.

You can be a doctor, but you do not have to be one. If you are a physician, a distinction must be made between

• facilities that serve the exercise of your freelance activity (e.g. the surgeon's clinic) and

• establishments that are not directly related to your freelance activity and are designed to make a profit.

The permit shall indicate whether it is for the purpose of operating a private hospital, a private maternity hospital, or a private mental hospital (or a combination of these facilities). Homes that house mentally ill or mentally disabled persons and provide only occasional medical care are not private hospitals.

Permission is granted to a specific natural or legal person. If the enterprise is a partnership, each of the managing partners requires a permit. The concession is granted for an unlimited period of time, provided that no changes are made to the clinic premises or the like.

Changes within the scope of the granted concession must be reported to the competent authority without delay.

The concession does not replace other permits and authorizations required by law.