A commercial customer or entrepreneur is a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, acts in the exercise of his commercial or independent professional activity (cf. Section 14 of the German Civil Code - BGB). The term natural persons also includes freelancers, craftsmen, farmers and small traders. A legal person is, for example, a public limited company (AG), a limited partnership (KG), a cooperative or a limited liability company (GmbH). Commercial or professional in this sense is any activity that is intended to generate income on a permanent basis.