The business register in Bolivia is the Registro de Comercio de Bolivia (Commercial Registry of Bolivia), administered since 2022 by the Servicio Plurinacional de Registro de Comercio — SEPREC (Plurinational Commercial Registry Service) under the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy. Its central instrument is the matrícula de comercio (commercial registration), which every trader — whether a company or an individual merchant — must hold. Registration, renewal and certificates are handled online through the SEPREC procedures portal.

The company registry in Bolivia

The register itself is defined by the Código de Comercio (Commercial Code), approved by Decreto Ley 14379 of 25 February 1977. Article 27 provides that the purpose of the Registro de Comercio is to keep the register of merchants and to record all acts, contracts and documents for which the law requires that formality, while Article 28 obliges every natural or legal person carrying on commerce to obtain a matrícula. Article 31 gives registered acts effect against third parties from the date of inscription.

From a concession to a state service

Bolivia changed the institutional model recently, and this is the single most important fact for anyone researching Bolivian companies. The Ley N° 1398 de 1 de octubre de 2021 (Law No. 1398 of 1 October 2021), the Commercial Registry Law, ended the concession under which a private foundation had operated the register and placed the Registro de Comercio under the oversight of the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy. The Decreto Supremo N° 4596 de 6 de octubre de 2021 (Supreme Decree No. 4596 of 6 October 2021) created SEPREC as a decentralised public institution with its own legal personality and assets, set a transition period during which the former concessionaire continued to operate until 31 March 2022, and SEPREC began providing the service on 1 April 2022. References to the former concessionaire in older documents should be read accordingly.

One register for companies and individual merchants

There is no separate register for sole traders. The empresa unipersonal (sole proprietorship), also referred to as the comerciante individual (individual merchant), obtains the same matrícula de comercio as a company, through its own registration procedure at SEPREC. Natural persons who trade without any commercial establishment are not merchants and register only for tax purposes.

Corporate acts that must be publicised — the opening of branches, transformations, mergers and similar operations — are published in the Gaceta Electrónica de Comercio (Electronic Commercial Gazette), an official publication channel forming part of the registration procedures.

Legal forms that can be registered in Bolivia

Article 126 of the Commercial Code sets out an exhaustive list of company types, and SEPREC’s procedures follow it:

  • Empresa unipersonal / comerciante individual (Sole proprietorship / individual merchant) — Articles 5 and 28 of the Commercial Code. No separate legal personality; the owner is personally and unlimitedly liable for the business’s obligations.
  • Sociedad colectiva (General partnership) — Article 173. All partners are jointly and unlimitedly liable for the company’s obligations; used for small partnerships built on personal trust.
  • Sociedad en comandita simple (Simple limited partnership) — Article 184. The managing partners are unlimitedly liable while the limited partners answer only up to the amount they have undertaken to contribute.
  • Sociedad de responsabilidad limitada — S.R.L. (Limited liability company) — Article 126(3). Partners are liable only up to their capital quotas; this is the standard vehicle for small and medium businesses in Bolivia.
  • Sociedad anónima — S.A. (Joint-stock company) — Article 126(4). Capital is divided into shares and shareholders are liable only to the extent of their shares. It may be incorporated in a single act or by public subscription, each being a distinct registration procedure.
  • Sociedad en comandita por acciones (Partnership limited by shares) — Article 126(5). Managing partners bear unlimited liability while the limited partners hold shares and are liable only up to them.
  • Sociedad de economía mixta (Mixed-economy company) — Articles 127 and 424 to 442. Combines State or public-sector capital with private capital and follows the rules of the joint-stock company.
  • Sucursal o representación permanente de sociedad constituida en el extranjero (Branch or permanent representation of a company incorporated abroad) — Articles 413 and 416 to 418. Not a separate legal person; the foreign parent remains liable, and the branch must be registered before operating in Bolivia.
  • Entidad financiera de vivienda, empresa estatal, empresa estatal mixta and empresa estatal intergubernamental (Housing financial entity and the various State and mixed State enterprises) — statutory forms outside Article 126 that nonetheless obtain a commercial registration, alongside departmental and municipal public and mixed enterprises.

One form listed in Article 126 is deliberately excluded from registration: the asociación accidental o de cuentas en participación (joint venture or participation account association) is exempted from the matrícula requirement by Article 28 and therefore leaves no trace in the register.

Information available from the Bolivian business register

The Registro de Comercio is a public service, and registered acts are enforceable against third parties from the date of inscription. Certificates on any registered merchant or company — including a complete history of every act recorded in its file — can be requested by any person through the SEPREC procedures portal, without needing citizen digital credentials, and are delivered as PDF documents carrying a QR validation code.

Corporate publicity operates through the Gaceta Electrónica de Comercio, where the acts requiring publication appear, and SEPREC publishes aggregate statistics on the business population on its website.

Registration is not a one-off event. Bolivian merchants must carry out an annual renovación de matrícula (renewal of the commercial registration), with the deadline for entities whose financial year closes on 31 December set by administrative resolution each year, and the renewal file includes the balance sheet and income statement bearing proof of filing with the tax authorities. The renewal produces its own certificate, which is the practical way of demonstrating that a Bolivian company’s registration is current.

What is restricted

Bolivia does not publish a free, open and searchable database of registered companies, and there is no standalone public name-search tool: control of name duplication is performed by SEPREC inside each registration procedure, with a reservation period that varies by legal form. Access to company data is therefore through certificates rather than through open search.

Beneficial ownership information is declared to SEPREC under recent supreme decrees and a dedicated guidance instrument approved by administrative resolution, but no official source confirms that this data is published; it should be treated as declared and not publicly available. Financial statements filed with the renewal are likewise not published as open documents — they are evidenced by a certificate of registration of the balance sheet. For supervised financial entities, financial information is published separately by the financial system supervisory authority.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Certificado de matrícula de comercio (Certificate of commercial registration) — issued on first inscription and evidencing the registration number and registered status. The basic proof of legal existence and merchant status for banks, tax, tenders and customs.
  • Certificado de inscripción de sociedad comercial, empresa unipersonal o comerciante individual (Certificate of registration of a company, sole proprietorship or individual merchant) — confirms to a third party that a given entity is entered in the register.
  • Certificado de tradición comercial (Commercial chain-of-title certificate) — contains all the historical information on a company, that is every act recorded in its file. This is the closest Bolivian equivalent to a full company extract, and the document to request for due diligence, litigation and acquisitions.
  • Certificado de registro de documento (Certificate of registration of a document) — certifies that a specific act or document has been inscribed in the company’s file.
  • Certificado de no inscripción (Certificate of non-registration) — a negative certificate confirming that an entity or name is not entered in the register.
  • Certificados específicos (Specific certificates) — tailored certification of particular data held in the file.
  • Certificado de registro de testimonio de constitución and certificado de registro de estatutos (Certificates of registration of the incorporation deed and of the bylaws) — evidence that the notarial incorporation deed and, where separate, the bylaws have been inscribed. The deed itself is a notarial instrument; SEPREC registers and certifies it.
  • Certificado de registro de testimonio de poder (Certificate of registration of a power of attorney) — evidences inscribed powers of representation and is used to prove who may sign for the company.
  • Certificado de registro de testimonio de apertura de sucursal o representación permanente (Certificate of registration of the deed opening a branch or permanent representation) — for foreign companies operating in Bolivia.
  • Certificado de renovación de matrícula de comercio (Certificate of renewal of the commercial registration) — evidences that the annual renewal has been registered and that the registration is current.
  • Certificado de registro de balance (Certificate of registration of the balance sheet) — evidences that financial statements have been filed with the register.
  • Copias digitales (Digital copies) — copies of documents held in the company’s registry file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who runs the business register in Bolivia?

Since 1 April 2022 the Registro de Comercio has been operated by SEPREC, a decentralised public institution created by Supreme Decree No. 4596 of 2021 under the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy, replacing the earlier concession model.

What is a matrícula de comercio?

It is the commercial registration that every merchant, natural or legal, must obtain under Article 28 of the Commercial Code. It identifies the trader in the register and must be renewed annually.

Are sole proprietorships registered like companies?

Yes. The empresa unipersonal obtains the same matrícula de comercio through its own procedure at SEPREC, although the owner remains personally and unlimitedly liable.

Can I search Bolivian companies online for free?

There is no free open company search. Information is obtained through certificates requested on the SEPREC procedures portal, which any person may request; the certificates are issued as PDFs with a QR validation code.

Which certificate shows a company’s full history?

The certificado de tradición comercial, which contains all the historical information recorded in the company’s registry file since its inscription.

Do Bolivian companies have to file financial statements?

Financial statements accompany the annual renewal of the commercial registration, with proof of filing before the tax authorities, and the register issues a certificate evidencing their registration. They are not published as open documents.

Sources

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