The business register in Belgium is the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE) / Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (KBO) — the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, managed by the SPF Économie / FOD Economie (Federal Public Service Economy) and consultable free of charge through its Public Search. It is complemented by three further official channels: the clerk’s office of the enterprise court, which holds each legal person’s file; the Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad (Belgian Official Gazette), where company deeds are published; and the Central Balance Sheet Office of the National Bank, where annual accounts are filed. Sole traders and companies are in the same register.

The company registry in Belgium

The Crossroads Bank for Enterprises was created by Article III.15 of the Code de droit économique / Wetboek van economisch recht (Code of Economic Law). Article III.16 lists what is registered in it: natural persons required to register as enterprises, Belgian legal persons, foreign and international legal persons with a seat, establishment unit or branch in Belgium, and organisations without legal personality. Every enterprise must register before starting its activity, through an accredited guichet d’entreprises / ondernemingsloket (enterprise counter) of its choice.

Registration produces an enterprise number and, for each place of activity, an establishment unit number. Public consultation is free: Article III.31 of the Code guarantees that any natural person, legal person or entity has internet access to the data listed in Article III.29 through a freely accessible website.

Courts, counters and gazette

The greffe du tribunal de l’entreprise / griffie van de ondernemingsrechtbank (clerk’s office of the enterprise court) keeps the dossier de la personne morale / dossier van de rechtspersoon (file of the legal person) under Article 2:7 of the Companies and Associations Code, in which constitutive deeds, statutes and appointments are deposited; anyone may consult those documents free of charge and obtain full or partial certified copies. Enterprise counters register enterprises in the Crossroads Bank, modify or delete their data, file private deeds and judicial decisions, and issue copies and extracts of register data.

Company deeds are published in the annexes to the Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad; under Article 2:18 of the Code they become enforceable against third parties from publication. Annual accounts are filed with the Centrale des bilans / Balanscentrale (Central Balance Sheet Office) of the National Bank of Belgium under Article 3:10 of the Code, within thirty days of approval and at the latest seven months after the end of the financial year.

Legal forms that can be registered in Belgium

Belgian company law was rewritten by the Code des sociétés et des associations / Wetboek van vennootschappen en verenigingen — CSA/WVV (Code of Companies and Associations), in force since 1 May 2019, which reduced the catalogue of forms to a closed list:

  • Société simple / maatschap (Simple partnership) — without legal personality; partners are jointly and unlimitedly liable. It can take the internal form of a société interne / stille maatschap, or acquire legal personality as an SNC or SComm.
  • Société en nom collectif — SNC / vennootschap onder firma — VOF (General partnership) — all partners bear unlimited joint and several liability.
  • Société en commandite — SComm / commanditaire vennootschap — CommV (Limited partnership) — managing partners are unlimitedly liable, silent partners only up to their contribution.
  • Société à responsabilité limitée — SRL / besloten vennootschap — BV (Limited liability company) — the flagship form of the reform: no minimum capital, replaced by a requirement of sufficient starting equity. The default vehicle for small and medium businesses.
  • Société coopérative — SC / coöperatieve vennootschap — CV (Cooperative company) — reserved by Article 6:1 of the Code to entities pursuing a genuine cooperative purpose; members enjoy limited liability.
  • Société anonyme — SA / naamloze vennootschap — NV (Public limited company) — liability limited to contributions, minimum capital EUR 61,500; used for larger and listed businesses.
  • Société européenne — SE (European Company) and société coopérative européenne — SCE (European Cooperative Society) — the EU-law forms.
  • Groupement européen d’intérêt économique — GEIE / Europees economisch samenwerkingsverband — EESV (European Economic Interest Grouping) — a legal person whose members bear unlimited liability.
  • Association sans but lucratif — ASBL / vereniging zonder winstoogmerk — VZW (Non-profit association) and association internationale sans but lucratif — AISBL / internationale vereniging zonder winstoogmerk — IVZW (International non-profit association) — members are not personally liable.
  • Fondation privée / private stichting (Private foundation) and fondation d’utilité publique / stichting van openbaar nut (Public-benefit foundation) — entities without members, holding assets for a defined purpose.
  • Entreprise personne physique / eenmanszaak (Sole trader) — not a company; the trader is personally and unlimitedly liable, and is registered in the Crossroads Bank like any other enterprise.
  • Succursale d’une société étrangère / bijkantoor van een buitenlandse vennootschap (Branch of a foreign company) — no separate legal personality; it must file its own dossier and publish in the annexes to the gazette.

Two recognised statuses may be added to these forms rather than replacing them: the entreprise agricole / landbouwonderneming (agricultural enterprise) and the cooperative agréée comme entreprise sociale / erkende sociale onderneming (accredited as a social enterprise).

Forms abolished by the reform

The 2019 Code abolished a series of familiar Belgian forms. The société en commandite par actions (SCA/Comm.VA), the société à finalité sociale (SFS/VSO), the société agricole (SAgr/LV), the Belgian groupement d’intérêt économique (GIE/ESV), the société coopérative à responsabilité illimitée (SCRI/CVOA), cooperative companies not meeting the new definition, and the union professionnelle / beroepsvereniging all ceased to exist as forms. The SPRL became the SRL, the SCS became the SComm and the SCRL became the SC by operation of law. Companies had to bring their statutes into conformity by 1 January 2024; those that did not were converted automatically on that date — an SCA into an SA with a sole director, an agricultural company and a GIE into an SNC, a non-conforming SCRL into an SRL, a professional union into an ASBL — and their directors are personally and jointly liable for any resulting damage.

Information available from the Belgian business register

Public Search shows, free of charge, the enterprise and establishment unit numbers, the name, the legal form, the legal situation and status, the addresses, the NACEBEL activity codes, the capacities and qualities held, the names and first names of founders and of persons exercising a function subject to publicity, the names of active partners and helpers, authorisations and licences, and the website, telephone and e-mail where declared, along with all data subject to publicity under company and insolvency law.

Beyond the register itself, the deeds published in the annexes to the Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad are freely searchable in full text, the file at the clerk’s office may be consulted free of charge, and annual accounts are available without charge from the National Bank’s Central Balance Sheet Office in PDF, XBRL and CSV formats.

What is restricted

Two limits matter. First, reuse of the data is restricted: consultation is designed for individual, purposeful queries, bulk reuse is reserved to the management service of the Crossroads Bank, and Article 2:30 of the Companies and Associations Code prohibits using published personal data to canvass natural persons or to commercialise financial information about them. Data beyond the publicly listed set is accessible only to authorities under ministerial authorisation.

Second, the registre UBO / UBO-register (register of beneficial owners), kept by the Federal Public Service Finance, is no longer open to the general public. Following the Court of Justice judgment of 22 November 2022 in joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, and the Law of 5 November 2023 in force from 21 December 2023, consultation is available to competent and sanction authorities, to obliged entities for customer due diligence, and to any person able to demonstrate a legitimate interest in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. A legitimate-interest applicant obtains only the surname, the month and year of birth, the nationality and country of residence, the category of beneficial owner, the date of becoming one and whether the holding is standalone or grouped. Individual beneficial owners may apply to the Treasury for a restriction of access to their data.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Extrait BCE / KBO-uittreksel (Extract from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises) — issued by an accredited enterprise counter and certified conform; it shows the enterprise number, name, legal form, addresses, establishment units, activity codes, capacities, authorisations and functions. Used as proof of registration for banks, tenders and counterparties. An enterprise can also consult, print and correct its own data through the My Enterprise service.
  • Publications aux annexes du Moniteur belge / publicaties in de Bijlagen bij het Belgisch Staatsblad (Publications in the annexes to the Official Gazette) — the incorporation extract, amendments to the statutes, appointments and terminations of directors, auditors and liquidators, dissolution, mergers and insolvency decisions. These publications are what makes the facts enforceable against third parties.
  • Statuts coordonnés / gecoördineerde statuten (Coordinated articles of association) — the up-to-date consolidated text of the statutes, which must be filed after each amendment; for deeds filed electronically by a notary they are also kept in the notarial electronic database. Used to check governance, powers of representation and share classes.
  • Comptes annuels / jaarrekening (Annual accounts) — the balance sheet, income statement and notes, with the auditor’s report, management report and consolidated accounts where applicable, filed with the National Bank. Larger non-profit associations file with the National Bank as well, small ones in the court file.
  • Copies du dossier au greffe / afschriften uit het dossier ter griffie (Copies from the file at the clerk’s office) — full or partial certified copies of any deposited document, under Article 2:12 of the Code.
  • Extrait UBO / UBO-uittreksel (Beneficial ownership extract) — the limited data set described above, available to legitimate-interest applicants and to obliged entities; registered entities may retrieve their own data through the UBO platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the business register in Belgium called?

It is the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises / Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (Crossroads Bank for Enterprises), managed by the Federal Public Service Economy and consultable free of charge through Public Search.

Are sole traders registered in the same register as companies?

Yes. Article III.16 of the Code of Economic Law places natural persons registered as enterprises in the same Crossroads Bank as Belgian and foreign legal persons and organisations without legal personality.

Which Belgian company forms were abolished in 2019?

The partnership limited by shares, the company with a social purpose, the agricultural company, the Belgian economic interest grouping, the cooperative with unlimited liability, non-conforming cooperative companies and the professional union. Companies had until 1 January 2024 to adapt, after which conversion happened automatically.

Are Belgian annual accounts public?

Yes. Companies file their annual accounts with the Central Balance Sheet Office of the National Bank within thirty days of approval, and the filings are freely consultable online.

Can I look up the beneficial owner of a Belgian company?

Not as a member of the general public. Since the Court of Justice judgment of November 2022 and the Law of 5 November 2023, access is limited to authorities, obliged entities and persons demonstrating a legitimate interest, who receive only a restricted data set.

Where are Belgian company deeds published?

In the annexes to the Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad, which are freely searchable; publication is what renders the deeds enforceable against third parties.

Sources

Keywords

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