- This article refers mainly to the Trade Register in Germany. The trade registers in Switzerland and the Netherlands have the same name.
The Trade Register (German: Handelsregister) in Germany is a public register that contains details of all tradespeople and legal entities in the district of the registrar (generally the Amtsgericht (local district court) of the place where the Landgericht (superior court) is also situated.
The Trade Register in Germany contains two branches: Branch A deals with partnerships, sole traders and registered associations (Vereine) without share capital. Branch B contains all incorporated companies with share capital. Applications (for new entries, changes and liquidations) must be made in notarized form in the presence of a public notary.
Amongst other things the Trade Register contains information on:
- legal name of a company
- Registered office
- people representing the company (Managing Director, Board of Directors, holders of Proxy)
- subscribed capital if any.
The functions of the Trade Register with respect to the information submitted are publication, examination, control and safekeeping. The content may be taken as accurate by any party referring to the register.
The entries to the Trade Register are made by a judge or an authorised employee. In many of the 16 Federal States, the Register is kept electronically.
Anybody may request an extract from the Trade Register about a specific company, the so-called Handelsregisterauszug (also HR-Auszug). In the following federal states, the registration can be downloaded online, but requires prior registration and sound knowledge of the German language: Hamburg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein.
A simple extract is usually priced at 8,00 €, a notarized one about 15,00 € (as of August 2005).
Legal entities are mostly obliged to publish their Annual Report by sending it to the Trade Register. This obligation depends on the size of the company.
Entries to the Trade Register are sent to the Bundesanzeiger (Federal gazette of the government) and published by them. Newspapers sometimes also publish new entries, although since 2009, entries to newspapers are no longer mandatory.
See also
External links
- Handelsregisterauszug.info Information about the German trade register (German)
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