Business Register in Austria

The company register is kept as a central, public register by the relevant provincial courts (company register courts), in Vienna this is the Commercial Court.

Information about companies that must be registered is entered in the commercial register in accordance with legal requirements. The purpose of the commercial register is to provide legal certainty for business transactions and to obtain relevant information about the companies entered in the commercial register.

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Your access to authentic business data from Austria

You can easily retrieve company register extracts in MartReport to obtain all relevant information on companies on a daily basis.

The company register in Austria is a public directory - the company register is open and freely accessible, i.e. in principle it is possible for anyone to retrieve data from the company register.

How to get data from the Business Register

After entering the unique company register number (this consists of numbers and a check letter), a corresponding extract from the company register can be called up and viewed. This excerpt contains a company's daily updated commercial register data, such as data on management, power of attorney or shareholders.

It serves to document and disclose facts that must be entered in accordance with company law regulations (e.g. UGB). The company register is kept by the regional courts (in Vienna by the Vienna Commercial Court, in Graz by the Graz Regional Court for Civil Matters). The company register database is operated by the BRZ - Bundesrechenzentrum.

The company register in Austria consists of two parts. The so-called main register (“company register”) contains the company register entries. The 2nd part is the so-called “collection of documents”. This contains documents on which the company register entries are based (e.g. resolutions of the general meeting, articles of association, annual financial statements or balance sheets).

Deleted data can also be issued on request (from the time of computerization). If the company register number is not known, it can be searched for using the name of the legal entity (“company”) or the name of a person who exercises a function in the legal entity being searched for.

The HRA/HRB/GEN numbers previously used in the commercial or cooperative register can also be used as search terms for this purpose.

Querable legal entities in the Austrian commercial register

All Austrian corporations (GmbH, Aktiengesellschaft), partnerships (OG, KG) and cooperatives are entered in the Austrian commercial register. Foreign legal entities are also entered in the company register if they have branches in Austria.

The following legal entities are therefore entered in the company register:

• Public limited company (AG)
• Limited liability company (GmbH)
• General partnership (OHG)
• limited partnership (KG)
• general partnership (OEG)
• Limited partnership (KEG)
• savings banks
• private foundations
• Cooperative and business cooperative
• Mutual insurance association
• European Economic Interest Grouping
• European Company (SE)
• Sole proprietorship
• Other legal entities whose registration is required by law

Sole proprietorships can be entered in the commercial register voluntarily. From a turnover of over 700,000 euros in two consecutive financial years or a turnover of over 1 million euros in 1 year, entry in the commercial register is mandatory.

Civil law partnerships (GesbR), on the other hand, cannot be found in the commercial register as they do not have their own legal personality.