Company Registries in the EU & North America
A practical guide for compliance, KYC and sales ops teams. Below you’ll find plain-English notes and deep links to each country’s official registry or public search portal. Where a country has multiple entry points, we’ve linked the most direct public search.
Austria
The Firmenbuch is the official Austrian companies register, maintained by the courts. Public extracts and searches are available online.
| Official registry | Firmenbuch (JustizOnline) |
|---|---|
| Alternate portals | Justice Ministry info |
Belgium
Belgium’s Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (BCE/KBO) is the canonical register. The public search exposes core entity data.
| Official registry | CBE / KBO – Public Search |
|---|---|
| Overview | Registers overview |
Bulgaria
The Registry Agency hosts the Commercial Register and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities (free basic search, paid documents).
| Official portal | Commercial Register (EPZEU) |
|---|
Croatia
The Court Register (Sudski registar) provides public access to registered entities and electronic services.
| Public search | Sudski registar – Pretraga |
|---|
Cyprus
Search the Registrar of Companies for companies, partnerships, and overseas entities; basic data is free, full files paid.
| eSearch | Search form |
|---|---|
| Department site | Companies Section |
Czech Republic
The public register (Obchodní rejstřík) is operated by the Ministry of Justice; search by name, ID or file number.
| Search | Obchodní rejstřík – search |
|---|
Denmark
Denmark’s CVR (Central Business Register) is searchable on Virk; includes participants and key company facts.
| Search | Søg i CVR |
|---|
Estonia
Estonia’s e-Business Register (Äriregister) provides free details of all legal persons; filings and reports available.
| Search | e-Business Register |
|---|
Finland
Finland’s YTJ (Business Information System) exposes basic company data by Business ID, name, LEI and more.
| Search | YTJ – Company & organisation search |
|---|
France
The National Register of Companies is operated via INPI; you can obtain proof of registration online.
| Registry/Proof | INPI – company registration extract |
|---|
Germany
Germany’s register portal aggregates Handelsregister and related registers across Länder with public notices and extracts.
| Register portal | Handelsregister – Registerportal |
|---|---|
| Disclosures | Unternehmensregister – search |
Greece
G.E.MI. (General Commercial Registry) offers publicity search for active and de-registered enterprises.
| Public search | G.E.MI. – find company info |
|---|
Hungary
Free company information is available on the Ministry of Justice’s e-cegjegyzek portal.
| Search | e-cegjegyzek.hu |
|---|
Ireland
The Companies Registration Office (CRO) is Ireland’s central repository; search and document ordering via CORE.
| CRO search | CORE access (CRO) |
|---|
Italy
Registro Imprese (run by the Chambers of Commerce/InfoCamere) provides official profiles and filings for all companies.
| Search | Registro Imprese – Ricerca |
|---|
Latvia
The Enterprise Register (UR) registers companies, branches and more; public information and certified copies available.
| Portal | ur.gov.lv |
|---|
Lithuania
The State Enterprise Centre of Registers maintains the Register of Legal Entities (JAR); searchable by code or name.
| Public search | JAR – public search |
|---|
Luxembourg
The Trade and Companies Register (RCS), managed by Luxembourg Business Registers, is the official index of traders and legal entities.
| Overview & access | Guichet.lu – RCS |
|---|
Malta
The Malta Business Registry offers a public search and online purchase of company documents.
| Company search | MBR – search |
|---|
Netherlands
The KVK Handelsregister is the statutory register; you can search by name or KVK number.
| Search | KVK – Search |
|---|
Poland
Poland’s National Court Register (KRS) is searchable without an account; extracts mirror official records.
| Search | KRS – search engine |
|---|
Portugal
The commercial register is managed via the Justice portal. Name availability and registration services are online.
| Justice portal | Registo – name search |
|---|---|
| Company services | Empresa Online |
Romania
The National Trade Register Office (ONRC) provides company registration and public disclosures; online services available.
| ONRC portal | onrc.ro |
|---|
Slovakia
The Business Register (ORSR) is operated by the Ministry of Justice with English and Slovak interfaces.
| Search | orsr.sk |
|---|
Slovenia
AJPES maintains the Slovenian Business Register (PRS); the “Find a company” service exposes public data.
| Search | AJPES – Find a company |
|---|
Spain
Spain’s Central Mercantile Register (Registro Mercantil Central) publishes company notices and data, with links to provincial registers.
| RMC portal | Registro Mercantil Central |
|---|
Sweden
Bolagsverket provides free company lookups and paid documents (annual reports, certificates) in English/Swedish.
| Find company info | Bolagsverket – search |
|---|
North America
Canada
Corporations Canada maintains the federal corporations database; provinces also maintain their own registries.
| Federal search | Search for a Federal Corporation |
|---|---|
| Overview | Canada’s business registries |
United States
The U.S. has no single national companies register. Public records are kept by each state’s Secretary of State. Use the NASS directory to jump to any state register. SEC EDGAR is for public company filings (not a legal entity register).
| State registries index | NASS – Corporate Registration (by state) |
|---|---|
| Public company filings | SEC EDGAR – Advanced search |
Mexico
Mexico’s Registro Público de Comercio (RPC) is accessed via the SIGER system; basic public consultation is available online.
| Public consultation | RPC – SIGER consulta pública |
|---|
Note: Availability of all registries per country worldwide and jurisdictions. All data available in CSV bulk files.
