Scope of application

(1) This Part applies only to undertakings in the legal form of 1. a commercial partnership for which no accounts are drawn up under section 264a or section 264b of the Commercial Code, or a sole trader, 2. (repealed) 3. an association whose purpose is directed at an economic business operation, 4. a legally capable foundation under civil law, where it carries on a trade, 5. a corporation, foundation or institution governed by public law that is a merchant under section 1 of the Commercial Code or is registered as a merchant in the commercial register.
(2) This Part does not apply to 1. undertakings in the legal form of a cooperative, 1a. undertakings of a municipality, an association of municipalities or a special-purpose association that have no separate legal personality, 2. collecting societies under the Collecting Societies Act. This Part also does not apply to credit institutions within the meaning of section 340 of the Commercial Code, to the persons referred to in section 2(1) numbers 1, 2 and 4 of the Banking Act, or to insurance undertakings within the meaning of section 341 of the Commercial Code.
(3) This Part does not apply to undertakings in liquidation.