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Eintragung in das Handelsregister

  • Register und Kataster
  • Unternehmensstart und Gewerbezulassung

Would you like to find out more about the commercial register? The commercial register contains entries on registered merchants and companies.

  • Basic information

    The commercial register is a public register that keeps records of registered merchants and companies in the district of the competent registry court and provides information on the documents filed there. The commercial register provides information on the key legal and economic circumstances ("facts") of merchants and companies and can be viewed by anyone.

    Task of the commercial register

    The purpose of the commercial register is to create legal certainty (e.g. for the conclusion of contracts). It therefore contains information on the factual and legal circumstances of companies (e.g. exact company name, registered office of the company, branches, any limitations of liability, persons authorized to represent the company).

    Lists of shareholders or minutes of general meetings can also be inspected at the local court.

    Freely accessible information

    Anyone interested can inspect the commercial register at the local court for information purposes and apply for an extract from the commercial register (subject to a fee).

    Structure

    The commercial register consists of 2 sections:

    • Section A
      Sole traders (e.K.), general partnerships (OHG) and limited partnerships (KG) are entered here.
    • Section B
      Corporations such as limited liability companies (GmbH), stock corporations (AG) or partnerships limited by shares (KGaA) are entered here.

    Commercial rights and obligations

    Merchants have the following rights and obligations:

    • Power of attorney
    • Place of jurisdiction
    • Guarantees
    • Bookkeeping and accounting regulations

    Requirements

    Please contact the responsible office.

  • Procedure

    To submit an application, please contact a notary.

    • The notary will advise you on how to formulate the application.
    • The application is made exclusively by electronic means and a publicly notarized document is created for this purpose.
    • The declaration is provided with a qualified electronic signature (in accordance with § 39a Beurkundungsgesetz/BeurkG) and sent to the electronic court mailbox of the registry court.
    • The registry court enters the entry in the court's internal database and also publishes the entry on the Internet ( www.handelsregisterbekanntmachungen.de )

    More information

    Electronic commercial register

    Since January 1, 2007, the commercial register has been kept exclusively electronically. Data from the following public registers is available on the joint Internet portal of the German register courts:

    • Commercial register
    • Register of Cooperatives
    • Partnership register
    • Register of associations (in part)

    Entry of a small business

    Small businesses are companies that do not need to operate in a commercial manner.

    If you run a small business, you do not necessarily have to be entered in the commercial register.

    However, you may be entered in the commercial register. If you register, you can also be entered as a "Kauffrau" or "Kaufmann" as a small business.

  • Necessary Documents

    • Please contact the responsible office.
  • Competent Department

  • Fees / Costs

    Fixed fees are charged for entries in the Commercial Register in accordance with the Commercial Register Fees Ordinance.

  • Deadlines & processing time

    What deadlines must be paid attention to?

    The registration court must decide on the entry immediately after receipt of the application. If all documents are available and no objections from the court are necessary, entries are usually made within a few working days.

  • Legal Bases

  • More Information

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This page has been automatically translated by DeepL. We cannot guarantee that the translation is correct.

The official information in German is complete and correct. 30.04.2026

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