Germany Commercial Register

What information is recorded in the German Commercial Register? ⁽¹⁾

The type of register depends on the company’s legal form:

• Commercial Register: sole traders, partnerships (OHG, KG), corporations (GmbH, UG, AG, KGaA, SE).
• Cooperative Register: cooperatives (eG, SCE).
• Partnership Register: professional partnerships (PartG).

The registers contain key facts and legal relationships, such as:

• establishment and termination of a company (e.g. dissolution, liquidation),
• representation (managing directors, board members, procurators, and their powers),
• liability details and changes in shareholders (for GmbH).

Not included in the Commercial Register: accounting documents (annual accounts, financial statements). These are published in the Company Register, which also provides insolvency notices and capital market information. Since 1 August 2022, accounting documents are no longer published in the Federal Gazette but exclusively in the Company Register.

Access to the official German Commercial Register platforms

Register Portal

Through the Register Portal, users gain centralized access to regionally maintained registers—including commercial, cooperative, partnership, and association registers—together with their official notices.

• https://www.handelsregister.de/rp_web/welcome.xhtml

Unternehmensregister (Company Register)

The Company Register, known in German as Unternehmensregister, serves as a unified digital platform. In addition to entries from the traditional registers, it provides access to further corporate information such as accounting and financial reports, legal announcements, insolvency court notices, and capital market data.

• https://www.unternehmensregister.de/en

Free access to partial German commercial register and business data

North Data

North Data’s free online search provides the largest publicly accessible collection of profit and revenue figures for German companies. Use the search box at the top of the page to look up specific companies or individuals.

• https://www.northdata.de

Source: (1) https://e-justice.europa.eu/topics/registers-business-insolvency-land/business-registers-eu-countries/de_en

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