JurisdictionsEurope
France
How to use Kausate in France — what you can call, which identifiers it uses, and which documents you can order
New to the API? Start with the jurisdictions overview, which explains how ordering, identifiers and documents work everywhere.
Company data here comes directly from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE) and Le Registre National des Entreprises (INPI).
What you can call here
| Operation | Status |
|---|---|
| Autocomplete | Live |
| Company search | Live |
| Company report Includes: Registered details, Legal representatives and Shareholders. | Live |
| Shareholder graph | Coming soon |
| Beneficial owners | Live |
| Financials | Live |
| List documents | Live |
| Retrieve a document | Live |
| Prefill | Live |
How to search
Use company search with jurisdictionCode: "fr". Pass a name as companyName or a registration number as companyNumber. companyNumber is read as siren.
Fields
An advancedQuery for France accepts these fields:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
name | Company name to search for. |
siren | SIREN (9-digit) or SIRET (14-digit) French company identifier. If a 14-digit SIRET is provided, the SIREN (first 9 digits) is extracted automatically. Spaces are allowed and will be stripped. Examples: '542051180', '54205118000068'. |
Examples
{ "jurisdictionCode": "fr", "advancedQuery": { "siren": "542051180" }}Other accepted values: 552032534.
Search notes
- If a search sends both a SIREN and a company name, only the SIREN is used. The request becomes a single-company lookup and returns at most one result.
- Searching by a full 14-digit SIRET returns the company-level record for its SIREN, not data for that establishment. Two SIRETs of the same company (for example a head office and one of its branches) return an identical result.
Company identifiers
A registration number sent as companyNumber is matched against the searchable schemes below; you do not name the scheme. All of them can appear in a company’s identifiers.
| Identifier | Type | Format |
|---|---|---|
| French SIREN Number French 9-digit SIREN company identifier | fr_siren | ^\d{9}$ |
| French SIRET Number French 14-digit SIRET establishment identifier | fr_siret | ^\d{14}$ |
| French VAT Number French VAT identification number (TVA intracommunautaire) | fr_vat | ^FR[0-9A-Z]{2}\d{9}$ |
| AMF Fund Code | fr_amf_fund_code | No fixed format |
| AMF Management Company Approval | fr_amf_management_company_approval | No fixed format |
| RCS Management Number | fr_rcs_management_number | No fixed format |
| RNA Number | fr_rna_number | No fixed format |
Identifier notes
- A SIREN's ninth digit is a Luhn checksum, so a 9-digit string can still be an invalid SIREN. Validate the checksum as well as the digit count.
- A SIRET is a company's 9-digit SIREN plus a 5-digit code for one business location. A company has one SIREN and one SIRET per establishment address, so all its SIRETs share the same leading 9 digits.
- For a 14-digit SIRET, only the embedded 9-digit SIREN is checksum-validated. The trailing 5-digit establishment code (NIC) is not checked, so a SIRET with a correct SIREN and a wrong NIC still passes validation.
Documents you can order
| Document | Order by | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Acts Legal acts (Actes juridiques) including statutes, shareholder decisions from French INPI | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Company Extract Official company extract (Extrait d'immatriculation) from French INPI | register_extractregister_extract_official | Live |
| Annual Accounts Annual accounts (Comptes annuels) from French INPI Registre National des Entreprises. Pass a kausateDocumentId to fetch a specific filing, or use the document code or the annual_accounts shortcut alone to fetch the most recent annual accounts. | annual_accounts | Live |
| Other Documents | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Articles of Association Most recent statuts (articles of association) filing from French INPI Registre National des Entreprises: the latest statutes / statutesUpdated acte for the company. | articles_of_association | Live |
Order a document by its shortcut, for example register_extract. The other filings differ per company: call list documents first and order the ID it returns.
Local notes
Gotchas
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Listed companies have no breakdown | Euronext Paris-listed companies (main market, Growth, Access) have no reconstructable ownership breakdown because free float is not captured in filings. Expect beneficial-ownership data at best, or rejection. |
| Sole trader name is the owner's | A sole trader's (entrepreneur individuel) company name is the owner's own given name plus surname. No distinct trading name is required. |
| 25% disclosure threshold | The beneficial-ownership register only requires disclosure above 25% stakes, so a shareholder can appear with no percentage. A missing or null value does not mean the stake is small. |
| Simplified accounts omit lines | Smaller companies file simplified annual accounts that omit several line items. A missing turnover or revenue figure does not mean zero was reported. |
| 'En sommeil' still reads active | Normalized status can show active while the register says "dormant" (en sommeil). Dormancy is self-declared and not always cleared once trading resumes, so trust the flag over the register wording. |
| Search matches struck-off entries | A name search also matches struck-off and historical registrations, so a well-known name can return several hits that are all dissolved. Check each result's status. |
| Null status means unknown | A search result's status can be null (neither active nor dissolved) when the underlying data does not indicate its standing. Treat null as unknown, not active. |
| Sole proprietorship has no shareholders | The shareholder section for a sole proprietorship (Entrepreneur individuel) always returns unavailable, never an empty list. |
| Shareholders must be requested | The default company report shows only legal representatives and branch/establishment data. Request the shareholders section explicitly to get shareholders. |
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
5710, 5499, 5599 … (legal-form code) | The original legal form is the register's four-digit code, not a name: 5710 is an SAS, 5499 an SARL, 5599 an SA with a board of directors, 1000 a sole trader. The French label, for example "SAS, société par actions simplifiée", is in the normalized legal form beside it. |
SARLU / EURL | A single-member limited liability company, the one-person version of an SARL. The two abbreviations refer to the same legal form. |
SASU | A single-member simplified joint-stock company with flexible governance, the one-person version of an SAS. |
SCI | A non-trading real-estate holding company, typically used to jointly own and manage property. |
SNC | A general partnership: all partners are jointly and personally liable for the company's debts. |
Entrepreneur individuel | A sole trader/proprietorship: an individual running a business under their own legal identity, with no separate legal entity, share capital or shareholders. |
Active | The status of a company with no striking-off, dissolution or dormancy on record. |
Ouvert / Fermé | The status of an individual establishment in the branches list: open or closed. It describes that establishment only, not the company. |
Radiée | The company has been struck off the French register, or its declared lifespan has expired. It no longer exists as an active legal entity. |
En sommeil | "Dormant": the company has declared a voluntary pause in trading. It still legally exists and can resume at any time. |
Président de SAS | The legal representative of an SAS. |
Gérant | The manager who represents an SARL, or another form run by managers rather than a board. |
Directeur Général / Directeur général délégué | The chief executive and the deputy chief executive. |
Administrateur | A member of the board of directors (conseil d'administration). |
Membre du directoire / Membre du conseil de surveillance | The two bodies of a company with a two-tier structure: a member of the management board, and a member of the supervisory board that oversees it. |
Commissaire aux comptes titulaire / suppléant | The statutory auditor and the alternate auditor. They are listed among the legal representatives, usually as an organisation rather than a person, although an auditor has no power to act for the company. |
Liquidateur | The liquidator winding the company up. |
Associé indéfiniment et solidairement responsable | A partner with unlimited joint liability for the company's debts: the partner role in an SNC. |
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