Gewerberegisterauszug

Citizens, companies, institutions, lawyers or authorities can submit a request for information from the trade register if they can prove a legitimate interest.

The trade register is kept by the local regulatory authorities (district-free city, large district-affiliated city, municipality, district administration) and contains all companies and businesses registered in accordance with the Trade Code (GewO) that have their registered office in the respective municipality.

Public bodies and private individuals can request an extract from the trade register. The consent of the data subject is not required for the disclosure of his or her data.

The name of the company or owner, the business address and the activity indicated are generally accessible. A legal interest must be proven for an extended trade register information that goes beyond this (e.g. to assert legal claims; lending to the trader).

There is no legal entitlement of third parties to the disclosure of the data. The Trade Register is not a public register (such as the Commercial, Cooperative or Association Register). The provision of information is at the discretion of the competent authority.

The information from the trade register corresponds to what was reported to the trade registration office up to the time the information was provided. The authority assumes no liability for the correctness and completeness of the information.

As a matter of principle, no information is provided about deregistered companies. This means that in the case of requests for information that are linked to a credible interest (e.g. in the case of legal proceedings, insolvencies and claims of other kinds), information is possible in the specific individual case.

An informal written application must be submitted with the following information:

• Name of the company or trader
• last known address
• Personal details
• In the case of extended information: credible demonstration of the legal interest by describing the facts of the case and attaching existing documents (e.g. debt instruments, copies of contracts, invoices)

Oral applications are not admissible.

Existence of a legal interest in the case of extended information

For the first to tenth person, per person or business premises: 14 €

For each additional person or business premises: 6 €

Information if enquiries or investigations are required beyond the documents available at the trade office, per person or business premises: 17 €

(No. 2.1.2 et seq. of Appendix 1 to § 1 of the Ordinance on Administrative Fees in the Portfolio of the Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy [MWEGebO])

The request for information from the trade register can be submitted in person, in writing or electronically. Online information is only possible from the administrations connected to the system. For citizens, only simple information is provided online. Extended information can be provided to companies online. Citizens should contact the competent authority for extended information.

The competent authority examines the application for completeness and whether there is a legal interest in information from the trade register. If the application is approved, the extract from the trade register will be sent after it has been checked. The fee notice will be sent by post.

maximum 3 months

none

Information from the trade register

Local regulatory authority (district-free city, large city belonging to a district, municipality without an administrative authority) in whose district the trader about whom a trade register information is obtained has his place of business (§ 1 paragraph 1 of the Ordinance on Competences in Trade Law (Trade Law Competence Ordinance – GewRZV))

Forms are available from the local trade authority.