Published on 18/08/2026 · Sources last reviewed: 20/08/2026 · Our method

Business permit: administrative silence means approval

Anyone arriving from Switzerland looks for the Luxembourg equivalent of the cantonal patente. There isn’t one — and the trigger is different. It is not your trade that decides, it is your status.

This article describes the law in force in August 2026, as it results from the law of 2 September 2011 in its consolidated version. Every rule carries its article. Where the public source and the legal text do not say the same thing, we flag it rather than choosing in silence.

The sorting rule: status, never trade

An employee is never concerned, whatever their trade. A self-employed person always is, even when no qualification whatsoever is required of them.

That is the opposite of the reflex. People ask “is my trade regulated?” when the question is “will I be working on my own account?”. Two people practising exactly the same trade, one employed and one self-employed, do not fall under the same regime.

Another point to check early: the permit is issued to the company, not to the person.

Administrative silence counts as a permit

This is the most useful provision in the whole file, and the least known.

The three deadlines

15 days for the acknowledgement of your application.

3 months of processing, extendable by one month.

Past that deadline with no answer, the permit is acquired — article 31(4).

In other words: the absence of a letter is neither a refusal nor a lost file. Anyone unaware of this waits for a letter that will never come, and delays by several months an activity they could have started.

Do you need a diploma? Not always

The law sorts activities by category, and three categories out of six require no qualification.

Category Qualification required Article
Commerce none art. 8(1)
Industry none art. 14
Crafts — list C none art. 12(2)(3)
Crafts — list A master craftsman’s certificate art. 12(2)(1)
Crafts — list B professional aptitude diploma art. 12(2)(2)
Liberal professions the title specific to the profession art. 15 to 26

The practical consequence is counter-intuitive: you may need a permit without needing a diploma. Permit and qualification are two distinct conditions, and confusing them makes applicants give up when they met the criteria.

If you live outside Luxembourg: four documents

Professional standing is proved differently when you do not live in the country. Your country of residence enters the procedure here — it is the only place in this file where it changes anything.

The non-resident's four documents

1. A sworn statement covering your directorship roles over the last three years.

2. A declaration of non-bankruptcy made before a notary.

3. A criminal record extract issued by your country of residence, covering the last ten years — France, Belgium or Germany as the case may be.

4. A Luxembourg N3 extract, only if you have already been active there.

The second is the one that surprises: it implies an appointment with a notary, therefore a delay and a cost that appear in no quick estimate. Plan for it first, not last.

The fee, and why we write it with a caveat

⚠ €50, but established by the portal only

The public portal shows a fee of €50, and that is the amount to budget today. We publish it while naming its provenance, because that provenance is not the one you would expect: article 33 refers the setting of the amount to a grand-ducal regulation we have not been able to identify, and the law frames only a range running from 24 to 2,500 €.

Notification of the permit itself is free.

We could have written “€50” and left it there. A figure presented as more solid than it is ends up copied elsewhere, then outliving its own expiry — that is exactly how an abrogated rate stays online for weeks.

Key points

Frequently asked questions

Who needs a business permit in Luxembourg? Anyone carrying on a self-employed activity — commercial, craft, industrial or liberal. It is not the trade that triggers the obligation but the status: an employee is never concerned, whatever their trade, and a self-employed person always is, even when no qualification is required of them.
How long does the administration have to answer? An acknowledgement within 15 days, then three months of processing, extendable by one. Past that deadline without an answer, the permit is deemed granted under article 31(4): silence means approval. Waiting for a letter that will never come is the classic mistake.
Do you need a diploma to go self-employed? Not always, and this is poorly known. Commerce, industry and list C crafts require no qualification. List A crafts require a master craftsman's certificate, list B a professional aptitude diploma, and liberal professions the title specific to each.
I live in France, Belgium or Germany: which standing documents must I provide? Four. A sworn statement covering your directorship roles over the last three years, a declaration of non-bankruptcy made before a notary, a criminal record extract issued by your country of residence covering the last ten years, and a Luxembourg N3 extract if you have already been active there.
Is the permit mine if I change company? No. The permit is issued to the company, not to the person. That is a fundamental difference from several neighbouring regimes, and it should be checked before any restructuring.

Does your activity need a permit, and which one? The Relokea module sorts your project into its legal category, names the qualification required when there is one, and lists the documents your country of residence must supply.

Sort my project

Official sources

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