Printing and Digital Press: The Documents Required

What changed on the ground?

At the centre of the change stands digital printing. Being able to print without plate preparation, in small runs and in a short time, shrank the scale of the work.

That had two consequences. First, part of the printing trade moved out of the industrial zones and onto retail streets. Second, businesses such as stationers, advertising agencies and copy shops took printing in-house. Three different kinds of business now do the same work.

Why is the old distinction no longer enough?

The old distinction was clear: a printing house is a production plant, a stationer’s is a retail shop. One is set up in an industrial area, the other opens on the high street.

Digital printing settled between those two definitions. It looks like a shop but produces; it is small in scale but its output is printed matter. So instead of looking for one answer, you need to define your own activity.

Today’s picture: three kinds of business

The fifth row is the starting point of this article. The certificate heading has no clear answer in the middle column; what produces the answer is not the name over the door but the operation carried on inside.

How should the printing house certificate heading be handled?

For businesses producing printed matter there exists a heading known as the printing house certificate. The document concerns the recording of businesses that produce printed works.

Whether the heading applies to your activity turns on what you print and how you print it. A shop printing business cards and posters does not stand in the same place as a plant producing books and magazines. The right move is this: write down one by one what you will print, put the list to the relevant unit of the governorate, and ask for the answer on paper.

Three items that make the file heavier

In digital printing, whether the file comes out light or heavy is settled by three items.

1. The kind of machine: systems using ink and solvent do not receive the same assessment as toner-based ones
2. Cutting and finishing: guillotining, laminating, binding and embossing pull the activity towards production
3. The waste item: how the ink used, the cleaning materials and the spoiled paper are collected

Without giving information on those three items, no meaningful answer can be had from the municipality. Attach the list of machines and the list of operations to your application letter.

The municipal side: the class assessment

Under the workplace opening and operating licence, activities are assessed according to their nature. Digital press shops do not gather at a single point in that assessment.

A small-scale, toner-based shop doing no finishing generally proceeds on a lighter file. For businesses using solvent-based wide-format systems, or setting up a binding line, the assessment may move up. Describe your own arrangement and ask for the view on class before you apply.

What sits in the body of the file?

The body of the file is built from the following headings. This is no promise of a closed list; the higher the class, the greater the chance of further papers.

• Application form and declaration of activity
• Lease agreement or title deed
• Occupancy permit and information on the zoning status
• Tax certificate and commencement notice
• Trade chamber or tradesmen’s chamber registration
• List of machines and equipment
• Papers on the assessment by the fire brigade
• Papers on the collection and handover of waste
• Correspondence on the printing house certificate heading, according to the activity

Where does sign and display work take the business?

A good many digital press shops move into signage, banners and vehicle wrapping. That item, which grows the turnover, grows the file as well.

Once wide-format printing, welding and fitting come together, the business is no longer a press shop but a workshop that produces and installs. Before taking that step, ask whether your stated activity needs updating.

Taking and placing subcontract printing

In this sector businesses pass work to one another. A small shop sends on the job its own machine cannot do; a large plant takes its retail customers from the small shop.

At the set-up stage that arrangement is a real advantage. You can open with a wide product list without having to buy every machine at the start. In return, delivery time and quality control pass out of your hands.

So build a written framework with the party you subcontract to: price, delivery time, liability for faulty printing and the terms of reprinting. The customer asks you about the delay, not the plant you sent it to.

The right order of set-up in this period

First write down what you will print and which finishing you will do. Then ask the governorate about the certificate heading and the municipality for the view on class. Place the machine order once both answers are in.

Fee items move with the municipality’s tariff in force and are set afresh each year. Request the current schedule from the revenue department.

We have set out the order of the authorities in the business licence roadmap; for cost and earning bands consult our business services sector page. If you mean to build the shooting side of visual production as well, our photography studio article follows on; if you will move into fitting and site work, so does our plumbing and technical service article.

In Short

• Digital printing shrank the scale of the printing trade and brought it onto the high street
• The same work is now done by classic printing houses, digital press shops and stationers
• The old printing house and stationer’s distinction no longer matches today’s shops
• All three rest on the workplace opening and operating licence as the main permission
• The printing house certificate heading exists and arises according to the activity
• Ask the relevant unit of the governorate whether that heading applies to you
• The kind of machine, the finishing and the waste item settle the weight of the file
• A small toner-based shop proceeds on a lighter file
• Solvent systems and a binding line can move the class assessment up
• Signage and vehicle wrapping take the business onto the workshop side
• The machine order is placed once the certificate and class answers are in

Quick Glossary

Printing house certificate: the document concerning the recording of businesses that produce printed works. Digital printing: the method of printing straight from a file, without plate preparation. Offset printing: the method that works by transfer from a plate and is efficient in long runs. Capacity report: the report evidencing a business’s productive strength through its chamber.

Next Step

Let us settle together what you will print and which permissions arise in your case: consultation request form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated: September 2026