You are engaged in a travelling trade if you offer goods for sale on a commercial basis without a prior order (appointment) and operate outside your commercial establishment (Section 4 (3) of the Trade Regulation Act) 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 perform entertainment activities as a showman or in the manner of a showman.

However, there are also activities that can be assigned to the travel trade, for which a permit is not required. 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 products from agriculture and forestry, vegetable, fruit and horticulture, poultry farming and beekeeping as well as hunting and fishing;
• you carry on one of the activities listed 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 sell milk or, in the case of this activity, milk products on the basis of a permit pursuant to Section 4 of the Milk and Margarine Act.
• As an insurance intermediary, you broker or conclude insurance contracts within the meaning of Section 34d (6) or (7) numbers 1 and 2 of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Code (Gewerbeordnung) or building society contracts, or provide advice on insurance within the meaning of Section 34d (2) sentence 1 in conjunction with Section 34d (7) sentence 2 as an insurance advisor, or are employed in the business of such an insurance advisor.
• They exercise a trade requiring a license under federal or state law, for the exercise of which reliability is required, and already have the necessary license;
• They broker financial investments as financial investment brokers or advise third parties on financial investments within the meaning of Section 34f (3) No. 4, also in conjunction with Section 34h (1) Sentence 4, GewO, or are employed in the trade 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), Trade Regulation Act;
• They distribute foodstuffs or other goods for daily use from a non-fixed sales point or another facility at regular, shorter intervals at the same location;
• 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).