The principal amendments are the following:

1. No professional qualifications are henceforth required to obtain the business licences which are required to for the carrying out and rendering of “commercial activities and services”;

2. The requirement of business licences for the professions of counsel and economic counsel has been removed from the Law on business licences and, as from the entry into force of the law of 18 July 2018, such licences have been replaced by a business licence for “commercial activities and services”. However, the existing business licences for these professions remain valid and into force but will be considered as general authorisations for “commercial activities and services”, meaning that no professional qualifications are required any longer for the exercise of such activities.

3. The specific authorisations for supermarkets and hypermarkets have been removed since they were overlapping with pieces of legislation in the fields of competition law and land-use planning.

4. The obligation to register diplomas for certain professions prior to the application of the business licence is not required any longer, unless the Ministry of Economics requests that such registration be carried out to allow the Ministry to analyse the qualifications.

In addition to the law of 18 July 2018, a Grand-Ducal regulation was adopted on the same day and entered into force on 30 July 2018. This Grand-Ducal regulation amends or repeals several implementing regulations of the Law on business licences.