What does the business register of Luxembourg offer?

The business register (Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS)) is an official directory of all the natural and legal persons in business and other bodies referred to by the amended Act of 19 December 2002.

The business register operates under the authority of the Minister for Justice. The task of managing the business register is entrusted by the Minister for Justice to an economic interest grouping, the Luxembourg Business Registers (formerly GIE RCSL), comprising the State, the Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce) and the Chamber of Trades (Chambre des Métiers).

The aim of the business register is to:

• ensure that persons for whom registration or listing is required by law can be identified, by keeping a permanent inventory,
• provide greater security for transactions,
• provide information to third parties.

The business register collects two types of data:

• identification and legal data, such as the business or company name, its business activities, its registered capital, the composition of the board, the auditors, powers of signature and other data of this nature,
• the annual accounts.

Contact

Is access to the business register free of charge?

The files may be consulted in the business register offices free of charge.

A certain amount of information is available free of charge on the Luxembourg Business Registers website:

• RCS number,
• date of registration,
• name,
• legal form,
• registered office address,
• a list of documents filed since February 2006.

For a fee, it is possible to obtain:

• an extract which provides an up-to-date summary of the data which a person on the business register must submit;
• an electronic certified copy of the documents filed with the business register.

The price table is available under the heading ‘General information - Prices’.

How to search the business register of Luxembourg

It is possible to perform a search of the business register pages on the website of Luxembourg Business Registers by:

• name (or part of a name) or
• the registration number of the listed person.

The search engine of the site then displays a list of names matching the search criteria.

On clicking on the name of any of the persons shown, the following information is displayed free of charge:

• RCS number,
• date of registration,
• name,
• legal form,
• registered office address.

How reliable are the documents in the register?

Pursuant to Section 19-3 of the amended Act on the register of businesses and companies and on company accounts and annual financial statements of 19 December 2002 (loi modifiée du 19 décembre 2002 concernant le registre de commerce et des sociétés ainsi que la comptabilité et les comptes annuels des entreprises), documents and extracts of documents are enforceable vis-à-vis third parties only from the date on which they are published in the Online Compendium of Companies and Associations (Recueil électronique des sociétés et associations – RESA), unless the company can demonstrate that the third parties concerned were aware of them earlier. Third parties may, nevertheless, rely on documents and extracts that have not yet been published.

Where a transaction takes place before the sixteenth day following the date of publication, these documents and extracts of documents are not enforceable vis-à-vis third parties that can demonstrate that they had no way of knowing about them.

In the event of a discrepancy between the text that was filed and the text that was published by the RESA, the text published cannot be relied upon against third parties. However, third parties themselves may invoke it, unless the company can demonstrate that they were in fact aware of the text that was filed.

History of the business register of Luxembourg

The business register has existed since 1909.

Since 2003, it has operated under the authority of the Minister of Justice and its management is entrusted to the economic Interest grouping, Luxembourg Business Registers. Since that date, it has become fully computerised.

The documents filed with the business register since 1 January 2006 are systematically digitised and made available in electronic format for consultation on the website.

The documents filed since the creation of the business register in 1909 are in the process of being digitised and are made available to the public once they are ready.

The entire business register will then be available for consultation in electronic format.

Related links

Luxembourg Business Registers