High penalties
Bittersweet bungling with the Christmas cookie business
More and more women in Burgenland are becoming hobby biscuit bakers and supplement their income by selling their home-made sweets. However, anyone without a business license is liable to prosecution.
You need time to bake. Mothers on maternity leave, pensioners and part-time employees have it, and so many of them conjure up all kinds of cakes, slices and pastries for birthdays, weddings and christenings - and not just for their immediate circle of family and friends. Hobby bakers are particularly busy at the moment, as this leisure and after-work activity promises lucrative business in the run-up to Christmas. After all, almost every Austrian orders one to three kilos of cookies and cookies during Advent.
Baking has been done on a grand scale since grandmother's time. However, the continuing rise in prices and the free advertising opportunities for homemade treats on social media channels are fueling the shadow economy and causing immense price differences. Much to the chagrin of trained confectioners, who offer a kilo of Christmas cookies for 35 to 55 euros, there are "black bakers" who offer the same amount for 25 to 30 euros. This is certainly causing quite a stir among the professionals.
Call for more fairness
Master confectioner and pâtissière Lena Zachs from Marz can understand the displeasure of many of her colleagues. She charges 54 euros for a kilo of vanilla crescents, Linzer eyes, Florentines, lemon diamonds, rum balls, Eisenbahner, Ischler, Neros and rum balls. For this she delivers top quality. After graduating from high school, the 23-year-old completed an apprenticeship as a confectioner at the "Crème de la Crème" in Vienna and then moved to Paris to learn the trade at "Ferrandi", one of the most renowned pastry academies in the world.
She finds it cheeky that there are fellow confectioners who draw their knowledge from YouTube tutorials, work with ready-made baking mixes and unabashedly avoid tax and cash register obligations, compliance with municipal levies and inspections by the food inspectorate, but charge the same or even more. "I have also baked for a larger clientele after completing my apprenticeship, but never illegally. On the one hand, I find unfair competition damaging to the industry, and on the other, I didn't want any problems with the tax office. That's why I contacted the Chamber of Commerce at the time to find out the scope and extent to which I was allowed to offer my products," says Zachs.
Burgenland specialty
There are currently 100 confectioners in Burgenland. 52 of them are master confectioners. Confectionery is a regulated trade. Proof of qualification is required to practise it. There is also a specialty in this country, the "wedding bakers". There are currently 48 officially registered.
"They are only allowed to make cakes, pastries, slices and cookies to order for specific occasions and using their household appliances. They obtain their trade license through what is known as individual qualification," explains Claudia Scherz, Managing Director of the Trade and Crafts Division of the Chamber of Commerce. The district administrative authority must be provided with evidence of the knowledge, skills and experience required for the respective trade. The individual qualification can, of course, also be limited to a partial activity if the qualification only exists for this partial activity of the trade in question.
But be careful! The mere offering of a commercial activity to a larger group of people is legally equivalent to carrying on a trade! So if you produce pastries commercially without a trade license or exceed the specified activity, you can expect hefty administrative penalties. "Anyone who commits an administrative offense or exceeds the business license must pay a fine of up to 3600 euros," warns Scherz. Shadow economy is not a trivial offence: "Unauthorized trade violates numerous laws. It also harms the general public and the labor market, because existing and future jobs and apprenticeships are at risk and competition between businesses is influenced to their disadvantage."
Even those who order illegally will be asked to pay
Those with a sweet tooth who still order their cookies from bakers who are carrying out an unauthorized trade are also guilty. If an illegal business is discovered, they have to pay a fine of up to 2180 euros. In this respect, it is definitely more sensible not to buy your coconut biscuits and vanilla crescents on the black market.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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