Kaunas exempts its own institutions from public-place trading fee

Kaunas City Council has added a new fee exemption for its own municipal institutions to the local charge for permits to trade or provide services in the city's public places.E TAR Decision No. T-506 of 15 September 2026 amends the regulationsE TAR approved by the council's Decision No. T-238 of 15 April 2025E TAR, adding a new point 48.4.

The new point 48.4 provides that municipal budgetary institutions (savivaldybės biudžetinės įstaigos) and public institutions (viešosios įstaigos) in which the municipality is a shareholder or owner are exempt from the charge when they themselves trade or provide services in Kaunas public placesE TAR.E TAR The exemption covers only those institutions' own trading or service activity in public places.E TAR

Before this amendment, Chapter VIII on payer relief ("Lengvatos rinkliavos mokėtojams"), point 48 of the regulations, listed three exemptions: persons trading or providing services during municipal administration-initiated events "Kauno gimtadienis" and "Kalėdų miestelis", except those selling alcoholic beverages or providing public catering services; Kaunas-resident pensioners and disabled persons selling forest goods and fruit, berries, vegetables and flowers grown on their own plots at sites approved by order of the municipal administration director, holding a pensioner or disability certificate; and persons providing bicycle and scooter rental services. The municipal-institution exemption joins that list as a fourth case.

The regulations define the charge as a compulsory payment set by municipal council decision for charge payers, applying in the municipality's territory and credited to the municipal budget. Relief for other charge payers not named in point 48 is set by the council in a separate decision, so point 48.4 is a targeted addition rather than a change to the general relief procedure.

In practice, a municipal budgetary institution or municipality-owned public institution that itself organises trading or service provision in a Kaunas public place — for example during an event or at a regular trading site — now falls within the exemption listE TAR. Other traders and service providers continue to pay the charge under the existing regulations.

The legal basis for the decision is Article 12 of the Lietuvos Respublikos rinkliavų įstatymas and point 37 of Article 6 of the Lietuvos Respublikos vietos savivaldos įstatymas. The decision was signed by mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.