What Counts as Business Premises? Types and Licence Classes

What Counts as Business Premises?

Premises means any place where commercial, industrial, agricultural or professional activity is carried out: a shop, office, workshop, production unit, warehouse, nursery, clinic or restaurant. What unites them is not the type of space but that income-generating activity happens there.

In practice the broad definition means this: a consultant working from home has premises for tax purposes but does not operate licence-requiring premises. That is where the distinction begins.

Shop, office, workshop: different roads under one roof

A shop sells at retail; an office produces services with limited visitor traffic; a workshop or production unit manufactures and creates environmental impact. All three are premises with different licence classes. For the retail side, our shop-opening guide goes deeper.

Class 1: Ordinary Premises

Premises with no direct adverse effect on health or the environment: shops, clothing, hairdressers, offices, stationers, pharmacies, bookshops. The vast majority of small businesses sit here.

This is the fastest process: with a complete file the licence can be issued at application or shortly after, with the site inspection following later. Speed comes from that; here the real risk is an incomplete file, not waiting.

Class 2: Non-Ordinary Premises

Premises whose activity may create physical, chemical or biological effects, graded into three sub-classes by severity. The first covers heavy-impact facilities, the third small workshops.

The process requires a review board, and depending on the class the licence comes from the municipality, the provincial administration or a ministry. Small production units, car repair and printing usually sit in the third sub-class, with timelines measured in weeks.

Class 3: Public Entertainment and Rest Venues

Cafés, restaurants, bars, coffee houses, internet cafés and function halls — places where the public gathers. Two extra conditions enter: police clearance and distance criteria.

The distance rule refuses the most applications: a set distance from schools and certain buildings is required, and alcohol sales follow a stricter regime. How the classes differ in practice is detailed in the classes guide.

What Sets Your Class: the Activity Code

Your class is set not by the space but by your activity code (NACE). Selling coffee beans and preparing and serving coffee are different codes; the second can move you into the public-venue class.

So the code is chosen with your accountant, thinking about the real activity. A wrong code means a wrong class and a wrong document list, and correcting it restarts the application.

Mixed Activity: Two Businesses at One Address

A common situation: sales and production at one address, or an office plus a small workshop. The rule: the heaviest class governs. A small production line beside an office pulls the whole address into the non-ordinary process.

The solution is either separating the activities or preparing for the heavier class from the start. An activity added later requires the licence to be reissued — the subject of the renewal guide.

Field Note

A coffee shop was licensed as ordinary premises; six months later it added tables and table service, and an inspection recorded a change of class. The licence was reissued and a penalty was written for the interim period. The product had not changed; the nature of the activity had. Class follows what you do, not what you sell.

Quick Summary

Premises means any place where income-generating activity happens. Three licence classes exist: ordinary (fast), non-ordinary (board review, three sub-classes) and public venues (police clearance and distance rules). Your activity code sets the class, and in mixed activity the heaviest class applies.

Frequently Asked Questions