Food truck license: which licence for Ireland and the EU
There is no EU-wide trading card. In Ireland you need a casual trading licence from your council; elsewhere, the permit each country requires, with official sources.
Romain BarreauFounder of Food Truck Store · 6 min readThere is no food truck license or trading card valid across the EU: each country decides who lets you sell. In Ireland, you need a casual trading licence from your local authority; elsewhere, a permit from the town or the police, a city contract or a restaurant licence. Here is what applies in each country, with the official sources.
The EU sets principles, countries issue licences.
The EU does not issue trading licences, but it sets rules for national ones: an authorisation must be non-discriminatory, justified by an overriding reason of public interest and proportionate (Directive 2006/123/EC, art. 9). Where pitches are limited, they are allocated by an impartial and transparent selection, for a limited period and with no automatic renewal (art. 12). Each country decides what the licence is called, who grants it and what it costs.
- Food business registrationWith your country’s food authority (the HSE in Ireland), before your first sale.
- Permission to tradeFrom the council, the town or the police on public land, or from the organiser at an event.
- A registered businessRegistered for tax as your country requires, before you apply for pitches.
Ireland: the casual trading licence.
In Ireland, selling goods on a public road, at a place where the public has access as of right or in a casual trading area requires a casual trading licence from the local authority (Casual Trading Act 1995, s. 2 and 3). You must apply at least 30 days before your first day of trading (s. 4), and the licence covers specified days, in a casual trading area or at an event open to the public. You must display its number where the public can clearly see and easily read it (s. 5).
- Read the bye-laws
Each council designates its casual trading areas in its bye-laws; Kildare also has a written selection policy.
- Apply 30 days ahead
At least 30 days before your first trading day, with the fee your council sets.
- Notify the HSE
With your local environmental health office, before you start trading.
- Display your number
Where the public can clearly see and easily read it, every trading day.
What an Irish council asks for.
Each council sets its own fees, which the Act requires to be reasonable and proportionate to the cost of administration (s. 6). Kildare, for example, publishes an annual fee scale by size of pitch and requires every trader to hold public, product and employers’ liability insurance (Kildare County Council). For a pitch on private land, Kildare tells traders to go to the planning authority first.
A pitch, a licence number, a queue.
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
In all four countries, the official guidance points to local permits rather than a national trading card. In Sweden, trading on public land needs a police permit (Polisen, Malmö, Gothenburg); in Norway, which is in the EEA but not the EU, a food truck needs a municipal serveringsbevilling, the restaurant licence (Oslo kommune, etablererprøven). Copenhagen issues an annual mobile street sales permit, and Helsinki uses a mobile sales contract (City of Copenhagen, where to sell, City of Helsinki).
- DenmarkIn Copenhagen, the permit runs until 31 December, and a trailer with its own plate may only sell from paid parking spaces.
- SwedenA police permit for public land. Malmö’s food truck spaces exclude trailers; Gothenburg’s accept them.
- NorwayA municipal serveringsbevilling, plus an exam for the manager, the etablererprøven, which Oslo only holds in Norwegian.
- FinlandIn Helsinki: business registration, the trailer registered in the company’s name, food registration, then the city contract.
Spain, Italy and Portugal.
In Spain, street trading needs an authorisation from the town hall for each pitch and type of sale, granted for a limited period (Royal Decree 199/2010). In Italy, the municipality grants a type A authorisation for a pitch or a type B for itinerant trading, and selling food also requires a professional qualification (Legislative Decree 114/1998, art. 28, Legislative Decree 59/2010, art. 71). In Portugal, you declare mobile food and drink service online with a prior notice, the mera comunicação prévia, on the Balcão do Empreendedor (Decree-Law 10/2015).
- 30 daysminimum notice to apply for an Irish casual trading licence
- 31 Decexpiry date of every Copenhagen mobile street sales permit
- 10 yearslength of a market pitch concession in Italy
Apply early, keep it in the trailer.
A licence does not cover hygiene.
In every country, the trading licence comes on top of your food business registration, never instead of it: every operator must notify the competent authority of each establishment (Regulation (EC) 852/2004, art. 6). In Ireland, once your stall is notified to the HSE, you can trade from it anywhere in the country, with the confirmation kept in the trailer (FSAI, Guidance Note 16).
Every step, from company to first day of trading, is in our guide on how to start a food truck business, and the free Academy quiz tells you which layout suits your menu.
Licence in hand, time to start trading.
With your licence and registration sorted, find out where to trade in our guide to food truck pitches, and see our food truck trailers, from €11,500 excl. VAT.
Paperwork sorted, counter open.
Your questions answered.
Got another question? Just ask us ›Yes, to sell on a public road, at a place where the public has access as of right or in a casual trading area: a casual trading licence from your local authority, applied for at least 30 days before your first day of trading (Casual Trading Act 1995).
The Irish licence to sell goods on a public road, at a place where the public has access as of right or in a casual trading area. Your council grants it for specified days, and you display its number where the public can read it.
No. The EU sets ground rules for national authorisations (Directive 2006/123/EC), but each country decides which licence or permit you need, usually granted by the town, the council or the police.
The council or the town sets the fee. In Ireland, the Casual Trading Act requires fees to be reasonable and proportionate to the cost of administration: ask your council for its fee scale; Kildare, for example, publishes one by size of pitch.
In Ireland, a casual trading licence can cover an event the public is admitted to, if the licence says so. Wherever you are, the organiser allocates the pitches, so ask which papers they want to see.
No. You register your food business with your country’s food authority before you start: in Ireland, a notification to the HSE lets you trade from the notified stall anywhere in the country.
By Romain, founder 
