How and Where to Obtain Trade Licenses in the Czech Republic?

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First of all, trade licenses can be obtained by an entrepreneur registered in the Czech Republic. This can be either a legal entity or a sole proprietor, so one of these must already be registered.

Registration of an entrepreneur's business activities (trade licenses) is handled by the Trade Licensing Office (Czech: "Živnostenský úřad"). These offices are almost always part of city administrations or, in larger cities, individual district administrations. They are generally not separate buildings but rather departments within the relevant local administration (look for "Odbor živnostenský" or "Živnostenský odbor" — these mean the same thing). Throughout most of the country, they operate on a similar schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays during business hours, approximately from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00–6:00 p.m.

IMPORTANT! Any entrepreneur in the Czech Republic can apply to any local Trade Licensing Office (the same "Živnostenský úřad"), and it does NOT have to correspond to the entrepreneur's registered office address. For example, an entrepreneur registered in Brno can submit such an application at the administration office of any district of Prague.

At the Trade Licensing Office, you need to submit an application for the relevant trade license. The application can be submitted in person either by the director of a legal entity or by an individual who operates as a sole proprietor. It can also be submitted remotely through the Data Box ("Datová schránka") of the legal entity or sole proprietor. A third party can also submit the application under a power of attorney granted by the entrepreneur.

The requirements depend on the type of business activity:

If it is a free trade license, nothing additional is required apart from the application. That is precisely why these licenses are considered free: no professional qualifications need to be demonstrated in order to obtain them.
If it is a complex/qualification-based business activity, the application must be supported by proof of professional competence ("Doklad prokázání odborné způsobilosti"). This is a separate topic because the required documents vary significantly depending on the particular activity. It may be a diploma confirming specialized education, proof of actual professional experience in the relevant field, or even confirmation from the relevant ministry of the Czech Republic.

Detailed information on the division of trade licenses into free and qualification-based types

Full list of free trade licenses in the Czech Republic — this will very likely be useful to you.

If this is the first registration of trade licenses (during the process of establishing a company or registering a new sole proprietorship), an administrative fee of CZK 1,000 must be paid, and in most cases you will need to wait approximately one week for the application to be processed. Once the initial registration has been completed, adding or removing business activities is free of charge and can be done immediately at the Trade Licensing Office.