Germany
In Germany, the company registry is the Handelsregister, free to search on handelsregister.de.
- Official company register
- Handelsregister (Gemeinsames Registerportal der Länder) / Unternehmensregister
- Free online search
- Yes
- Company identifier
- Register number with a register-type prefix (HRA, HRB, GnR, PR, VR, GsR), always cited with the register court that keeps it
- Who can see beneficial owners
- Legitimate interest
- Company search
- handelsregister.de
- Checked on
Search German companies free on handelsregister.de, the joint register portal of the federal states; the entries themselves are kept by local register courts. Current, chronological and historical prints and filed documents such as shareholder lists are available without the former electronic-access fees, which ceased on 1 August 2022. Beneficial owners are in the Transparenzregister, which members of the public can inspect only with a proven legitimate interest.
Companies are identified by a register number, such as HRB, together with the register court.
- Region
- Europe
- Run by
- Local register courts (Registergerichte); joint portal run by North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry of Justice; Unternehmensregister run by Bundesanzeiger Verlag
- Registry website
- handelsregister.de
- Visible for free
- Register entries (current, chronological and historical prints), electronically filed documents such as shareholder lists and articles, and register announcements; accounting documents in the Unternehmensregister
- Paid documents and fees
- Electronic register extracts and individual filed documents on the register portal are free because the former EUR 4.50 and EUR 1.50 access fees ceased on 1 August 2022. Certified copies requested from the competent register court may carry a fee. Accounting documents in the Unternehmensregister are free; microenterprise balance sheets may cost EUR 1.00.
- Beneficial ownership register
- Transparenzregister
- Beneficial ownership access in detail
- Members of the public get restricted inspection only by showing a legitimate interest (berechtigtes Interesse), for example journalists and NGOs working on money laundering or terrorist financing, or for self-inspection (register quick guide, November 2024).
- Beneficial ownership register website
- transparenzregister.de
- Search interface languages
- DE, EN, ES, FR, IT
- What an official extract contains
- Current print (aktueller Abdruck), chronological print and historical print; filed documents such as the shareholder list and articles of association
- What to know before a KYB check
- Company searches, register prints and filed documents on handelsregister.de are free; electronic-access fees ceased on 1 August 2022. Certified copies requested from the competent register court may still carry a fee. Beneficial owners are held separately in the Transparenzregister.
- Sources
Page URL Handelsregister portal home https://www.handelsregister.de/rp_web/welcome.xhtml Handelsregister normal search (register types) https://www.handelsregister.de/rp_web/normalesuche/welcome.xhtml Handelsregister Impressum (operator) https://www.handelsregister.de/rp_web/impressum.xhtml Justizportal: Gemeinsames Registerportal der Länder https://www.justiz.de/onlinedienste/registerportal_der_laender/index.php European e-Justice: Business registers - Germany https://e-justice.europa.eu/topics/registers-business-insolvency-land/business-registers-eu-countries/de_en Unternehmensregister (EN) https://www.unternehmensregister.de/en Transparenzregister quick guide: inspection for members of the public (PDF) https://www.transparenzregister.de/connector/api/file/6276b4c5-5dc4-456d-bb98-0251818ba8a6 - Verification
- Some fields unverified
Questions
Is the Handelsregister free?
What is an HRB number?
Who can see beneficial owners in Germany?
Sources: each listing is compiled from the registry’s own website, the government body that runs it, official fee schedules and legislation, and the EU e-Justice portal. Every source is linked on the listing with the date it was checked. How we compile this reference