JurisdictionsEurope
Germany
How to use Kausate in Germany — 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 Handelsregister, Insolvenzbekanntmachungen, Transparenzregister and Unternehmensregister.
What you can call here
| Operation | Status |
|---|---|
| Autocomplete | Live |
| Company search | Live |
| Company report Includes: Registered details, Legal representatives and Shareholders. | Live |
| Shareholder graph | Live |
| Beneficial owners | Credentialed |
| Financials | Live |
| List documents | Live |
| Retrieve a document | Live |
| Prefill | Live |
What a report looks like
An example company report from Germany, as the result of a completed order. Populated fields vary by company.
How to search
Use company search with jurisdictionCode: "de". Pass a name as companyName or a registration number as companyNumber. companyNumber is read as registerNumber.
Fields
An advancedQuery for Germany accepts these fields:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
name | Company name to search for. Can be used alone or combined with identifier fields for more specific searches. |
courtId | Court ID (e.g., 'D2803', 'D2601'). Cannot be used with courtCity. |
courtCity | Court city name (e.g., 'München', 'Berlin'). Matched loosely, so minor spelling variations still resolve. Cannot be used with courtId. |
registerType | Register type (e.g., 'HRB', 'HRA', 'GNR', 'PR', 'VR'). Case-insensitive. |
registerNumber | Register number (e.g., '10364B', '10364', 10364, 'HRB 275800', or 'HR B 275800'). Can include register type prefix (HRB, HRA, HR B, HR A, G NR, etc.) which will be automatically extracted and used if registerType is not explicitly provided. Supports both spaced (HR B) and non-spaced (HRB) variants. A suffix written into the number is picked up as well. Integers are accepted. |
registerSuffix | Register suffix (e.g., 'B', 'BHV'). Can be provided explicitly or extracted from registerNumber. Case-insensitive. |
includeDeletedboolean | Include deleted/inactive Handelsregister companies in live search results. |
keywordOption | How the register should match name. allKeywords (default) returns companies whose name contains every keyword, so a longer registered name still matches. exactName returns only companies whose registered name is exactly the one supplied, which yields no results rather than a near miss. atLeastOneKeyword widens the search to any single keyword and therefore requires at least one of registerType, registerNumber, courtId or courtCity to narrow it. |
Examples
{ "jurisdictionCode": "de", "advancedQuery": { "name": "BMW AG" }}Other accepted values: HR B 275800.
Other accepted field combinations: courtCity + name + registerType, courtCity + registerNumber + registerType, courtId + registerNumber + registerSuffix + registerType and registerNumber + registerType.
Search notes
- companyName alone, such as "BMW AG", searches the whole Handelsregister. By default (keywordOption "allKeywords") every word you send must appear in the registered name. "exactName" matches only that exact registered name. "atLeastOneKeyword" is the widest search, and the register accepts it only alongside a register type, register number or court.
- A register number is not unique across Germany, so a bare number is rejected: pass it with its register type ("HRB 253035", not "253035") as companyNumber or registerNumber. Without a name, a search needs at least two of court (courtId or courtCity), registerType and registerNumber. A number written with its type ("HRB 275800" or "HR B 275800") counts as both.
- courtId and courtCity name the same court and cannot be combined. courtCity is matched loosely, so minor spelling variations resolve; use it unless you hold the court's code.
- Companies struck from the register are left out unless you set includeDeleted to true.
- With the default 'match all keywords' option, a companyName search evaluates only the first five keywords, and a hyphen, ampersand or period each starts a new keyword. 'Deutsch-Venezolanischer Softball-und-Baseball' can reach that limit before the end of the string, so the search can miss the company or return extra matches. Send five keywords or fewer, or pair a shortened name with register number or register type.
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 | Example | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| German Register Number with Court Code German commercial register number with embedded court code | de_registernumber_full | F1103R_HRB271693 | ([A-Z]\d{4}[A-Z]?)_\s*(HRA|HRB|GNR|PR|VR|GSR|HR\s*[AB]|Genossenschaftsregister)\s*(\d+)\s*([A-Z]{0,2})(?![a-zäöüß])(?:\)|\b|$)? |
| German Transparenzregister EKRN Eindeutige Kennnummer der Rechtseinheit (EKRN) — the Transparenzregister's own stable entity identifier for a legal entity (format 'DE' followed by 12 digits, e.g. DE162615209083). Distinct from the commercial-register (HRB/HRA) number. | de_treg_ekrn | — | ^DE\d{12}$ |
| German Register Number German register number | de_registernumber_weak | HRB 271693 | (HRA|HRB|GNR|PR|VR|GSR|HR\s*[AB]|Genossenschaftsregister)\s*(\d+)\s*([A-Z]{0,2})(?![a-zäöüß])(?:\)|\b|$)? |
| BaFin Register Number | de_bafin_registernumber | — | No fixed format |
| Foundation Directory Number | de_foundation_directory_number | — | No fixed format |
Identifier notes
- Only in Schleswig-Holstein do several courts share one number range, so a Handelsregister number alone can match an unrelated company at another court. Keep the two-letter court locator on the number ("KI" for the Kiel court, "HL" for Lübeck). It sits where other German numbers carry an optional register-section suffix such as "B", but here it is required.
- A limited partner's ownership percentage in a KG is calculated, not published by the register: that partner's registered liability contribution against the total contributed by all limited partners in the same filing. The general partner (Komplementär) never carries an ownership percentage, whatever capital figure is recorded for them.
- A company's Handelsregister court and register number can be retired while the company stays active: a new combination is issued when it moves its registered office into another court's district, converts its legal form, or has its register sheet closed and continued under a new entry. If a known register number stops returning the company, search by name or other criteria to find its current entry.
Documents you can order
| Document | Order by | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Association | articles_of_association | Live |
| Current Extract | register_extractregister_extract_official | Live |
| Chronological Extract | DEHRCD | Live |
| Historical Documents | DEHRHD | Live |
| Model Protocol | DEHRMP | Live |
| Structured Information | DEHRSI | Live |
| Shareholders List Shareholder list from German commercial register | shareholders_list | Live |
| Transparency Register Documents Beneficial ownership documents from German Transparenzregister | ubo_extract | Live |
| Transparency Register Documents (Test) Beneficial-ownership documents from the German Transparenzregister test environment. For end-to-end testing against the demo entities with your own test credentials. | DETRTATEST | Live |
| Annual Accounts Annual accounts (Jahresabschluss) as filed with the German Unternehmensregister / Bundesanzeiger. 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 |
| Board Changes | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Consolidated Accounts | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Capital Measures | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Deposited Annual Accounts Annual accounts deposited with the German Unternehmensregister, delivered as the registry PDF selected from list documents. | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| New Document Filing | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Other Documents | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
| Register Announcement | A document ID from the list operation | Live |
Order a document by its shortcut, for example articles_of_association. A document shown with a code has no shortcut: order it by the code, for example DEHRCD. The other filings differ per company: call list documents first and order the ID it returns.
Access
Beneficial owners requires your own registry account. Store the credentials through the Integrations API, then send your customer ID with each call.
Transparenzregister
Required — calls that use this source fail without it.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
email | The email address your Transparenzregister account is registered under |
password | The password for that Transparenzregister account |
Transparenzregister (Test)
Sandbox. It returns only the register's demo companies. Use it with test credentials to try the flow; it is not needed for real companies.
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
email | The email address your Transparenzregister test-environment account is registered under |
password | The password for that test-environment account |
Local notes
Gotchas
Deposited accounts need purchase consent
Financials orders use free statements by default. To authorize purchasing the latest deposited annual accounts when no free statements are available, include {"advanced":{"allowDepositedAccountsPurchase":true}} in an asynchronous POST /v2/companies/finance request. Additional charges apply. Omitting the option or setting it to false disables purchases, and an upstream retrieval error never triggers one. These advanced options are supported only for German companies.
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| General partner appears twice | In a KG, OHG, GmbH & Co. KG or PartG, the general partner is listed as both legal representative and shareholder. |
| AG and SE ownership unavailable | For AG, SE, KGaA and variants, shareholder data is returned marked unavailable, not as an empty list. Share ownership is not filed with the commercial register. |
| Micro entities file less | A Kleinstkapitalgesellschaft (micro entity) or kleine Kapitalgesellschaft (small company) may file a shortened balance sheet and omit the income statement and notes, so sparse financials there are not a data gap. |
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
HRB / HRA | The register section at the start of a German register number ("HRB 271693"). HRB is section B of the Handelsregister, which holds corporations such as the GmbH, UG, AG and SE; HRA is section A, which holds sole traders and partnerships such as the KG, OHG and GmbH & Co. KG. |
GnR / PR / VR / GsR | Register-type prefixes for entities kept in their own registers rather than in HRA or HRB: the cooperatives register (Genossenschaftsregister), the partnership register for professional partnerships (Partnerschaftsregister), the associations register (Vereinsregister) and the register of civil-law partnerships (Gesellschaftsregister, for an eGbR). GnR and GsR are written in mixed case. |
UG | Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt), a variant of the GmbH. Returned as its own legal form with its own legal-form code, distinct from GmbH. |
aktiv / in Abwicklung | Register status values. aktiv is an active company; in Abwicklung is a company being wound up. |
currently registered / closed register sheet / deleted | Status wording on search results, passed through as the register words it. "closed register sheet" means that register entry has been closed; the company itself may continue under a new entry at another court or under a new number. |
i.L. (in Liquidation) | Name suffix meaning the company is being wound up. It can appear while the status still shows active. |
i.Abw. (in Abwicklung) | Name suffix meaning the company is in dissolution/wind-down proceedings, equivalent to "i.L." |
gelöscht | Register status meaning the company has been struck off. |
verschmolzen auf nicht eingetragenen Rechtsträger | Register status meaning the company was merged into a legal entity that is not (yet) entered in the commercial register. |
insolvent (Handelsregister status) | Register status that Kausate maps to 'in receivership', not closed or dissolved. Insolvency proceedings have been opened; the company is not necessarily struck off and may still be trading. |
Geschäftsführer(in) | The managing director of a GmbH or UG, the office that represents the company. |
Vorstand / Vorstandsvorsitzende(r) | A member of the management board, as found at an AG or SE. Vorstandsvorsitzende(r) is the chair of that board. |
Persönlich haftende(r) Gesellschafter(in) | The general partner of a KG or OHG (the Komplementär): personally liable without limit and entitled to represent the partnership. |
Kommanditist(in) | A limited partner of a KG, liable only up to the contribution entered in the register. |
Inhaber(in) | The owner of a registered sole-trader business. |
Liquidator(in) / Abwickler(in) | The person appointed to wind the company up. When one is listed among the legal representatives, the company's normalized status is closing even where the register status itself still reads aktiv. |
Prokurist(in) / Prokura | A person granted commercial power of attorney (Prokura) to sign for the company. Listed with directors and managing officers in the representatives list, but holds signing authority, not a management or board role. |
Einzelprokura / Gesamtprokura | The two modes of Prokura that appear in a company's signing rules. Einzelprokura lets the Prokurist sign alone. Gesamtprokura lets them sign only together with the co-signer the rule names, for example "Gesamtprokura gemeinsam mit einem anderen Prokuristen" (together with another Prokurist). |
einzelvertretungsberechtigt | On a named person's signing rule: this person may represent the company alone, whatever the company's general rule requires. |
von der Vertretung ausgeschlossen | On a named person's signing rule: this person is entered in the register but may not represent the company. |
Ist nur ein Geschäftsführer bestellt, so vertritt er die Gesellschaft allein. Sind mehrere Geschäftsführer bestellt, … | The opening of a company's general signing rule. A sole managing director signs alone; where several are appointed, the rest of the sentence says who must sign together, typically two managing directors, or one together with a Prokurist. The same sentence pattern is used for board members (Vorstandsmitglied) and liquidators (Abwickler). |
Befreit von den Beschränkungen des § 181 BGB | Note on an officer's signing authority: the person is exempt from Germany's self-dealing prohibition and may sign for the company even when they are the counterparty or also represent the other party. The register also writes the exemption out in full, as "mit der Befugnis, im Namen der Gesellschaft mit sich im eigenen Namen oder als Vertreter eines Dritten Rechtsgeschäfte abzuschließen": "im eigenen Namen" covers contracting with oneself, "als Vertreter eines Dritten" covers acting for both sides, and a rule may grant only one of the two. |
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