Similar to the table above, the section below provides an overview of available identity registers, now covering legal entities.
This includes legal entities which have been established within a given country, or which have a local branch that is subject to registration on account of its economical activities.
Country Description User group Status / details
Austria Register of Company
Names (Firmenbuch) Austrian legal persons Operational Central Register of
Associations (Zentrales Vereinsregister)
Austrian legal persons Operational
Supplementary Register
Belgium Crossroads database of
enterprises Legal persons
established in Belgium or required to register in Belgium
Operational. Also contains natural persons who are entrepreneurs in Belgium.
Limosa Foreign persons wishing
to employ someone in Belgium or to pursue a temporary or partial activity as a self-employed person.
Operational. Also mandatory for natural persons who wish to be active as entrepreneurs in Belgium.
Bulgaria BULSTAT Register Companies, non-profit organisations, public institutions, other kinds of legal entities, central database, the Commercial Register.
Commercial Register Companies, non-profit organisations, public institutions, other kinds of legal entities,
Register of Associations Legal entities including trading companies, co-ops, and institutions established in Croatia
Operational; accessible via the internet.
Cyprus Companies Registration
System Companies, overseas
companies, partnerships and business names
Operational.
Czech Republic
Administrative Register of Economic Subjects (ARES)
Denmark Central Business
Register (CVR-register) Legal entities and entrepreneurs
established in Denmark
Operational.
Estonia Centre of Registers and
Infosystems Legal entities and
entrepreneurs established in Estonia
Operational.
Finland Business Information
System Businesses and
organisations entered in the Trade Register, Register of Foundations,
VAT register,
Prepayment Register, Employer Register or the Client Register of the Tax Administration
Operational.
France National directory of
legal persons (SIRENE) Legal entities which are economically active in France
Operational.
Germany Commercial Registers
(Handelsregister) Legal entities
established in Germany Operational Companies Register
(Unternehmens-register) Legal entities
established in Germany Operational (supplement to the Handelsregister)
Greece Trade registers Legal entities
established in Greece Operational. To be centralised in an electronic General Register for legal persons, but this register is not yet operational.
Hungary Company register Legal entities
established in Hungary Operational as a distributed database with sources at 20 District Courts.
Iceland National Business
Register Legal entities
established in Iceland Operational.
Ireland Business registers Legal entities
established in Ireland Operational.
Italy Commercial Register
(registro delle imprese) Legal entities
established in Italy Operational; managed by the Chamber of Commerce (one per province)
Latvia Commercial Register Legal entities
established in Latvia Operational Liechtenstein Company Register Legal entities
established in
Liechtenstein
Operational. Accessible via the internet.
Lithuania Register of Legal
Persons Legal entities
established in Lithuania and Lithuanian branches and representations of foreign legal persons
Operational. Open to the public.
Luxembourg Commercial Register Legal entities and entrepreneurs
established or
economically active in Luxembourg
Operational. Open to the public.
Malta Register of commercial partnerships and companies
Legal entities a
established in Malta Operational Register of Employers All employers in Malta
(including natural persons)
Operational
The
Netherlands
Trade Register Legal entities
established in The Netherlands
Operational
Norway Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities
Entities subject to registration obligations in Norway.
Operational. Note that the register contains information on entities subject to registration
obligations as
employers, VAT payers, tax payers, etc. ; but that entities can (and do) also register voluntarily.
Poland National Judicial
Register (KRS) Legal entities and entrepreneurs
economically active in Poland
Operational.
Portugal National Company Registry (Registo Nacional de Pessoas
Legal entities
established in Portugal
Operational
Colectivas)
Romania Trade Registries of the
County Tribunal Commercial legal
entities established in Romania
Operational; available online16 on the National Trade Registry online database (RECOM) Registry of Legal
Persons Legal entities
established in Romania Operational
Slovakia Trade Register Legal entities
established in Slovakia Operational Commercial Register Legal entities
established in Slovakia Operational Slovenia Business Register Legal entities
established in Slovenia Operational Spain Companies Registry Legal entities and
entrepreneurs established in Spain
Operational
Sweden Trade and Industry
Register Legal entities and
entrepreneurs
established in Sweden
Operational. Consists of
a number of
subregisters, including the Limited Companies Register and the Business Register.
Turkey Ministry of Finance Tax
Number (Maliye
Bakanlığı Vergi Numarası
Legal entities
established in Turkey Operational
United Kingdom
Companies House
database Limited liability entities
established in the UK Operational
Again, all countries have implemented some form of database for legal entities. It should be noted that these registers typically also include entrepreneurs (natural persons who are economically active as self employed).
An important difference with the registers for natural persons is that the managers of legal entities must take active steps themselves to become registered, whereas natural persons become registered at birth or as a part of the process of obtaining a permission to reside in a country. This means that identity information is yielded on a voluntary basis, in exchange for the ability to exercise an economic activity. This difference in motivation (automatic registration vs. voluntary registration) has been exploited in Belgium, where a separate database under the name of Limosa was created with the express purpose of being able to identify legal entities and entrepreneurs across borders.
Limosa aims to register foreign companies, organisations or self-employed persons wishing to employ someone in Belgium, or wishing to establish themselves in Belgium in order to pursue a temporary or partial activity as a self-employed person. For persons already registered in a Belgian official register, there was already a requirement to register such changes electronically using the so called Dimona application17. However, for other persons (natural or legal) who are not subject to Belgian social security, this obviously presents a problem if no prior entry in an official register exists.
16 See http://recom.onrc.ro/indexe.htm, (in English)
17 See https://www.socialsecurity.be/site_nl/Applics/dimona/index.htm
For this reason, the Limosa application18 was created, which requires temporary/partial employees to register electronically before they can begin any professional activities. The declaration must be done by the employer or organisation that sends somebody to Belgium, or by the person himself if he is self-employed and coming to work temporarily/partially in Belgium. After an electronic registration process, the person receives a username and password which can be used to electronically declare the activity, after which a so called Limosa-1-certificate is issued electronically. This certificate must be printed out and carried at all times by the foreign worker in Belgium.
The interesting element in this application is the registration process, which merely requires the registering entity to fill out a web form, providing one of four possible identification numbers (national number, passport number, social security number or pension number) from the country of origin, or a Belgian social security number (if available). The provided information is not formally checked.
While the system is inherently weakly protected against abuse (since it depends on unverified claims from the registering party), the approach is none the less considered viable, because the target user group is precisely economic entities who wish to comply with Belgian social and fiscal law, and who therefore have no real benefit in defrauding the system by providing inaccurate information.
18 See https://www.socialsecurity.be/foreign/en/employer_limosa/home.html