Equatorial Guinea registers companies in the Registro de Comercio y Crédito Mobiliario (RCCM) — in French the Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier. The country is a member of OHADA, and the only Spanish-speaking one: it ratified the treaty on 16 April 1999, deposited its instruments on 15 June 1999, and the treaty entered into force for it on 14 August 1999.

The company registry in Equatorial Guinea

An honest starting point is necessary. Equatorial Guinea has almost no official web presence for its company register. There is no national online company search, no official registry website and no published list of court registries. The planning ministry’s site was suspended when checked, and the one-stop-shop portal linked from the finance ministry returned an origin error on repeated attempts. Where national sources are silent, the applicable authority is OHADA law, which applies directly and overrides contrary national law — and this article says so explicitly wherever that is the case.

The governing texts are the Uniform Act on General Commercial Law (AUDCG), adopted at Lomé on 15 December 2010 and in force since 15 May 2011, and the Uniform Act on Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups (AUSCGIE), adopted at Ouagadougou on 30 January 2014 and in force since 5 May 2014.

Under the OHADA rules the RCCM is kept by the registry (greffe) of the competent court, under the supervision of that court’s president or a delegated judge. Which specific Equatoguinean courts hold those registries is not confirmable on any official source.

Above the local registries sit two aggregation layers. The Fichier National, under articles 73 to 75 of the AUDCG, centralises all RCCM entries in each member state under the supervision of the justice ministry — in Equatorial Guinea, the Ministry of Justice, Worship and Penitentiary Institutions — and is meant to answer public queries immediately or within 48 hours, including electronically. Whether it is actually operational is not confirmable. The Fichier Régional, under articles 76 to 78, is kept at the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration in Abidjan and centralises the national files with the same duty of public information.

A one-stop shop does exist: the Ventanilla Única Empresarial, created by Decreto nº 67/2017 of 12 September 2017 and described by the finance ministry as simplifying the administrative procedures for setting up a company. It issues its own Certificado de Registro en la VUE. Its website was down at the time of verification.

The NIF, the tax identification number, is required throughout company formation and registration, under the tax law, Ley Tributaria nº 4/2004 of 28 October.

Individual traders fall into two distinct statuses. The comerciante persona física is entered in the same RCCM. The emprendedor, the OHADA entreprenant, is not registered at all: under article 30 of the AUDCG he makes a declaration of activity instead of an immatriculation.

Legal forms that can be registered in Equatorial Guinea

  • Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL, the OHADA SARL) — the private limited company and the standard vehicle for small and medium business. Members are liable only up to their contributions, and the company may have a single member.
  • Sociedad Anónima (SA) — the public limited company. Shareholders are liable up to their contributions; a sole shareholder is possible; it is administered either by a general administrator or by a board.
  • Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada (SAS) — the simplified joint-stock company, with liability limited to contributions and internal organisation set freely in the statutes.
  • Sociedad Colectiva (SNC) — the general partnership; all partners are traders and are indefinitely and jointly liable. No minimum capital.
  • Sociedad en Comandita Simple (SCS) — the limited partnership; general partners unlimited, limited partners liable to their contributions. No minimum capital.
  • Agrupación de Interés Económico (GIE) — the economic interest grouping, auxiliary to its members’ own activity, acquiring legal personality on RCCM registration.
  • Sucursal de sociedad extranjera — the branch of a foreign company, which must be registered within one month of creation and has no separate legal personality.
  • Empresa individual — the individual trader, registered as a comerciante or merely declared as an emprendedor.

Two exclusions matter. Cooperatives are not in the RCCM: they are kept in a separate register of cooperative societies held by the local administrative authority. And the sociedad en participación has no legal personality and is expressly not registered.

On capital, one national rule departs from the OHADA default and is easy to get wrong. For the SA the minimum is FCFA 10,000,000, rising to FCFA 100,000,000 where there is a public offering. For the SRL the OHADA default is FCFA 1,000,000, but the 2014 revision allows national legislators to vary it, and Equatorial Guinea has done so: Decreto nº 45/2020 of 24 April 2020 fixes the minimum share capital of a sociedad de responsabilidad limitada at FCFA 100,000. The operative figure is therefore 100,000, not 1,000,000.

Public and restricted data in the Equatoguinean register

OHADA runs a regional portal with search interfaces for natural persons, legal persons and cooperatives. Queried directly in August 2026 it held 43,113 legal persons and 96 cooperatives — and Equatorial Guinea contributed zero records. Searches on its country prefix returned nothing for natural persons, legal persons or cooperatives alike, while Togo, Niger, Gabon, Chad and Congo account for the great majority of the data. So although Equatorial Guinea has a country page on the portal, no Equatoguinean company data is retrievable there. A further irony for the only Hispanophone member: the portal’s Spanish-language version returns empty content for its substantive pages.

Nor is there a national alternative. No official online gazette of company registrations is confirmable. The official state bulletin is published only as scattered PDF files on the government’s official press site, which is current and authentic but not a registry publication channel.

On beneficial ownership, no register exists that is confirmable on any official source. A page on the finance ministry site headed “beneficiarios finales” is a one-off disclosure of the beneficial owners of COVID-19 emergency procurement contracts, listing entity, corporate name, identification and contract amount — useful in its own right, but not a company beneficial ownership register. Such data should be treated as unavailable.

On financial statements, the AUSCGIE requires the SA and the SARL to file annual accounts with the court registry, after which they are in principle accessible. Two honest caveats: the exact article wording could not be verified from a working official source, since the only official download link returns an error and the library copy is a non-searchable scan; and in practice filed accounts for Equatoguinean companies are not obtainable online.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

These are obtained in person at the competent court registry or through the one-stop shop.

  • Extracto del RCCM — the register extract, showing the registration number, name, legal form, object, address, share capital, directors or managers and branches. The proof of legal existence and of who binds the company.
  • Certificado de inscripción — the certificate of registration confirming that the entity is registered and active. The AUDCG obliges the registrar to deliver, at any time, documents establishing that a subject has completed the prescribed formalities.
  • Copias de los estatutos — certified copies of the deed of incorporation and the statutes as deposited, used to verify governance, share structure and powers.
  • Estado de inscripciones de garantías — the statement of registered security interests: pledges, liens, privileges and leasing. This matters because the RCCM doubles as the personal-property security register, so it is the place to check encumbrances before lending or contracting.
  • NIF — the tax identification number and its certificate, required for essentially all corporate filings.
  • Certificado de Registro en la VUE — the one-stop-shop registration certificate.
  • Certificado Conciso — a national document repeatedly required by the finance ministry in registration procedures. Its exact content is not defined on any official source.

Credit institutions follow a regional route rather than a national one: the banking licence is granted by decision of the Governor of the Bank of Central African States, notified to the applicant with copies to the finance ministry, the regional banking commission and the national economic and financial committee, with dossier requirements set by regional instruction.

For completeness, the following could not be confirmed on any official source: the identity and location of the competent court registries; whether the Fichier National is operational; any online Equatoguinean company search; the contents of the Certificado Conciso; any beneficial ownership register; access to filed financial statements; and the current status of the one-stop-shop portal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the company register in Equatorial Guinea?

The Registro de Comercio y Crédito Mobiliario, the OHADA RCCM, kept by the registry of the competent court under the supervision of its president.

Is Equatorial Guinea an OHADA member?

Yes, and it is the only Spanish-speaking member. The treaty entered into force for it on 14 August 1999, and the OHADA uniform acts apply directly.

Can I search Equatoguinean companies online?

No. There is no national online search, and the OHADA regional portal contains zero records for Equatorial Guinea despite having a country page for it.

What is the minimum capital for a limited company in Equatorial Guinea?

FCFA 100,000 for a sociedad de responsabilidad limitada under Decreto nº 45/2020, departing from the OHADA default. For a sociedad anónima it is FCFA 10,000,000, or 100,000,000 with a public offering.

Does Equatorial Guinea have a beneficial ownership register?

None is confirmable. A finance ministry publication on beneficial owners relates to COVID-19 procurement contracts, not to companies generally.

Are cooperatives registered in the RCCM?

No. Cooperatives are entered in a separate register of cooperative societies kept by the local administrative authority.

Does a sole trader have to register?

A comerciante persona física is entered in the RCCM. An emprendedor makes a declaration of activity instead and is not immatriculated.

Sources

Keywords

business register Equatorial Guinea, company registry Equatorial Guinea, RCCM Equatorial Guinea, Registro de Comercio y Credito Mobiliario, OHADA Equatorial Guinea, sociedad de responsabilidad limitada Guinea Ecuatorial, Ventanilla Unica Empresarial, NIF Guinea Ecuatorial, AUDCG, AUSCGIE, minimum capital SRL Equatorial Guinea