🇩🇪 Data and document in Germany

General Overview

Germany boasts a highly structured yet somewhat fragmented corporate information system. While access to legal and financial records is available through multiple public registers, the path to this information can vary significantly depending on the legal form and registration status of the business entity.

Public registers such as the Handelsregister (Commercial Register), Unternehmensregister (Company Register), and Transparenzregister (Transparency Register for UBOs) serve different purposes and often require navigation across platforms. Despite recent efforts toward digitalization, usability and coverage discrepancies persist—particularly for non-incorporated businesses such as sole proprietorships and partnerships.

This complexity makes Germany both a rich and challenging jurisdiction for conducting KYB and AML due diligence.

Official Registers

Primary Registers

Germany’s company data ecosystem is powered by three primary public sources.

The Handelsregister (Commercial Register)

This register contains legally binding corporate details: formation documents, legal representatives, share capital. The access is free but the site is slow and often hard to navigate even if it is the website tradionnaly used to access corporate data & document. It is accessible here handelsregister.de

Please note: this register is less up to date than the Unternehmensregister by several days to a few weeks, particularly when it comes to company closures or changes of directors/shareholders.

Unternehmensregister (Company Register)

This register aggregates data from the Handelsregister and Bundesanzeiger . It offers access to financial statements, register extracts, and status updates. Often more complete and up-to-date than the Handelsregister. It is accessible here: unternehmensregister.de

Transparenzregister (Transparency Register)

This is the central source for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) disclosures. This access is difficult to get and requires justification of a legitimate interest. The document collection may involve delays due to a manual review from the register. It is accessible here: transparenzregister.de

Registration obligations by legal form

Registration and updates are mandatory for most legal forms, including the following legal forms:

• GmbH (Limited Liability Company)
• UG (Mini-GmbH)
• AG (Joint-stock Company)

However, there is a conditional Registration for Sole proprietor

The sole proprietorships (Einzelunternehmen) and civil partnerships (GbR) are not always registered unless operating as a kaufmännischer Geschäftsbetrieb (commercial enterprise).

Based on our analysis, we have noticed that less than 5% of these two legal forms are registered. Unfortunately, there is no register or data source providing information regarding sole proprietor. This

When sole proprietors are registered, they are denoted as e.K. (eingetragener Kaufmann).

With Semaphore

All German company data and documents are available through Semaphore API. This includes verified and structured access to a variety of corporate details essential for compliance and due diligence.

Available Data

Company Profile

• Company name
• Company registration number
• Legal form
• Registered address
• Registration authority and date
• Company activity description
• Share capital (amount and currency)

Directors and Legal Representatives

• Full names of officers
• Positions
• Signatory rights
• Powers of representation

Shareholders

• Name of each shareholder (when disclosed)
• Nature of ownership
• Percentages (if public)

UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Ownership)

• UBO names, dates of birth, nationalities
• Access subject to legitimate interest request
• Semaphore supports documentation for justification and end-to-end request processing

Available Documents

Register Extract (Handelsregisterauszug)

Free, always available, serves as the official certificate of incorporation

Statutes (Gesellschaftsvertrag / Satzung)

Available for GmbHs, often missing for GmbH & Co. KG. Free to retrieve.

Financial Statements (Hinterlegte Jahresabschlussunterlagen)
Available via Unternehmensregister.
Cost: €1.19 per statement.
Often delayed—financials for year N-2 might only appear in late