Ethiopia keeps a Central Commercial Register (የንግድ መዝግማ) maintained by the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration. Two statutes matter: the Commercial Registration and Business Licensing Proclamation No. 980/2016, as amended by Proclamation No. 1150/2019, which governs the register, and the Commercial Code Proclamation No. 1243/2021, which governs the business forms themselves.

The company registry in Ethiopia

The system is multi-level rather than centralised at a single desk. Under article 8 of Proclamation 980/2016, regional trade bureaus and the investment commission register applicants and must immediately forward the data to the ministry’s database, which enters it in the Central Commercial Register. Regional bureaus cover Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, the Southern Nations, Sidama, Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, Harari, Addis Ababa and the other regions. Federal-level registration is reserved to the ministry for foreign business persons, branches, commercial representatives, federal public enterprises and federal sectoral associations. Article 86 of the Commercial Code fixes an important principle: a trader has only one principal registration and one registration number nationwide.

Online services run through the e-Trade portal at etrade.gov.et, the online trade registration and licensing system. Coverage is not yet universal — the implementing directive repeatedly distinguishes cases “where online service is provided” from manual offices.

The single most useful structural feature is the merger of tax and registry identity. Under article 9 of Proclamation 980/2016, before entering a trader in the register the registering office requests a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) in writing from the tax authority, and the TIN is then entered in the register as the trader’s unique registration identification number. Register entry and tax identity are literally the same number.

Registration and licensing are strictly separate steps. Commercial registration confers legal existence; a separate application to the appropriate authority produces the business licence, which confers the right to trade in a specific sector and is renewed annually in a window running roughly from early July to early January.

Foreign investors go through the Ethiopian Investment Commission as a one-stop shop under Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020 and Investment Regulation No. 474/2019; the commission issues both the investment permit and the commercial registration certificate. Its published position sets minimum foreign capital at USD 200,000 for a wholly foreign-owned investment and USD 150,000 for a joint venture, reduced to USD 100,000 and USD 50,000 respectively for architectural and engineering works, technical consultancy, technical testing and publishing, with capital transferred through a foreign-currency account opened with the central bank’s permission. These figures should be read as the commission’s published position rather than a freshly re-verified 2026 statement, since the page carrying them is undated and much of its content is older.

Individual traders are in the same register. Article 82 of the Commercial Code makes registration compulsory for any Ethiopian or foreign natural person carrying on trade, and the certificate of commercial registration has national effect and is issued in both Amharic and English.

Legal forms that can be registered in Ethiopia

The Commercial Code of 2021, enacted on 12 April 2021, repealed Books I, II and V of the 1960 code while leaving Books III and IV in force until a financial services code is issued — so it replaced the old code only in part. Article 174 lists the business organisations:

  • Sole proprietor — not a business organisation in the strict sense but a registrable trader, with unlimited personal liability.
  • General partnership — all partners jointly, severally and unlimitedly liable.
  • Limited partnership — general partners unlimited, limited partners capped at their contribution.
  • Limited liability partnership — liability limited, used for professional and service ventures.
  • Joint venture — the one form with no legal personality. It is contractual, undisclosed to third parties and is not registered.
  • Share company — liability limited to shares and the only form permitted to issue transferable debentures. Minimum capital not less than ETB 50,000, with a par value per share of not less than ETB 100.
  • Private limited company (PLC) — liability limited to contributions, no public offering. Minimum capital not less than ETB 15,000, share value not less than ETB 100.
  • One-member private limited company — a single shareholder with limited liability. The implementing directive provides for converting a sole proprietorship into it.

A branch of a foreign company may take part in economic activity but must first be entered in the commercial register kept by the trade ministry. It has no separate legal personality, its rights and obligations form part of the parent’s patrimony, and it is registered where the branch or agency office is located.

Cooperative societies are not in the commercial register. They are registered under Cooperative Societies Proclamation No. 985/2016 by the Ethiopian Cooperative Commission and the regional cooperative bureaus.

Article 175 states the decisive rule: all business organisations except the joint venture acquire legal personality on entry in the commercial register. One caution on framing: although the limited liability partnership and the one-member private limited company appear in the article 174 list, no official source labels them as new; that they date from 2021 is an inference from the repeal of Book II of the 1960 code.

Public and restricted data in the Ethiopian register

Openness is stated in the statute. Article 5 of Proclamation 980/2016 provides that the commercial register is open to the public at large and that third parties are entitled to look into it, and business organisations must be publicised in a nationally circulating newspaper on establishment.

That openness is real online. The e-Trade portal exposes an unauthenticated business licence checker, searchable by licence number or TIN. It returns a genuinely detailed record: the business or person name in Amharic and English, the trade name, the commercial registration number, the licence number, the TIN, the legal form, the capital, the manager’s name and photograph, the sector and subgroup, the registration date, renewal dates and the period renewed from and to, a status flag — active, cancelled, blocked, not renewed, renewable, renewable with a fine, or due for closure — and a full address block down to region, zone, sub-city or woreda, kebele and house number, with telephone contacts.

What it does not return is ownership. The checker shows the manager, never the shareholders, and there is no shareholder register available publicly. Financial statements are likewise restricted: audited accounts are filed for licence renewal and to the revenue authority but are not published, and the checker discloses registered capital only. Article 13(2) of the proclamation even makes paper copies conditional, the office supplying information only where it is subject to disclosure.

On beneficial ownership the position is documented rather than merely assumed. Ethiopia has no central or public beneficial ownership register. The Financial Intelligence Service’s second-round national money-laundering and terrorist-financing risk assessment states that article 5 of the AML/CFT Proclamation No. 780/2013 obliges legal persons themselves to maintain adequate, accurate and current beneficial ownership and control-structure information, which competent authorities access on request, while registries hold only basic information. The assessment identifies the absence of an easily accessible centralised database as a weakness and rates beneficial ownership availability as medium-low.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Certificate of Commercial Registration — the primary document, nationally valid and issued in Amharic and English. It contains the trader or organisation name, the trade name, the TIN serving as the registration number, the legal form, capital, address and field of business. It proves legal existence and is a prerequisite for the licence, a bank account and public tenders.
  • Substitute Certificate of Commercial Registration — issued where the original is lost or damaged.
  • Business Licence — naming the specific licensed sectors and premises. It must be displayed at the business address and is renewed annually.
  • Certificate of Competence — issued by the relevant sectoral government office, not the trade ministry, confirming technical or professional competence. It is a precondition to the business licence in regulated sectors.
  • Copy or extract of an entry in the commercial register — obtainable on written application under article 13(1), evidencing a specific registered fact.
  • Certificate of No Entry — the official negative confirmation that a person or entity is not registered.
  • Certificate of Cancellation of Registration — proving deregistration or closure.
  • Memorandum and articles of association — the notarised originals are lodged with the registering office, and amendments must be registered within 60 days of authentication. Copies are obtained through the entry-copy route, subject to the disclosure filter.

Two documents deserve a caveat. A TIN certificate is universally referred to in practice, but while the TIN itself is expressly created by article 9 of the proclamation, “TIN certificate” as a named deliverable is not defined in the proclamation or the directive, and the revenue ministry’s service catalogue could not be read on an official source. Similarly, renewal is captured in the register and displayed publicly through the licence checker, but a standalone renewal certificate is not named in the law.

A practical access note: Ethiopian government sites are frequently misconfigured at the transport-security level, and several ministry portals were unreachable or returned server errors during verification. The trade ministry, the justice ministry law database, the e-Trade portal and the Financial Intelligence Service were the workable official sources.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official company register in Ethiopia?

The Central Commercial Register kept by the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, fed by regional trade bureaus and the investment commission under Proclamation No. 980/2016.

Is the Ethiopian company register public?

Yes. Article 5 of Proclamation 980/2016 states it is open to the public, and the e-Trade portal offers a free business licence checker searchable by licence number or TIN.

What is the minimum capital for an Ethiopian company?

Not less than ETB 15,000 for a private limited company and not less than ETB 50,000 for a share company, with a minimum share value of ETB 100 in both cases.

Is the registration number the same as the tax number?

In effect yes. The TIN is obtained before registration and is entered in the register as the trader’s unique registration identification number.

Does Ethiopia have a beneficial ownership register?

No. Legal persons must keep beneficial ownership information themselves and produce it to competent authorities on request; the national risk assessment records the absence of a centralised database.

Are shareholders and accounts visible in Ethiopia?

No. The public checker shows the manager and the registered capital, never the shareholders, and audited accounts are filed for licence renewal and tax purposes but are not published.

Do I need a licence as well as registration?

Yes. Registration confers legal existence; a separate business licence, renewed annually, confers the right to trade in a specific sector, and some sectors also require a certificate of competence.

Sources

Keywords

business register Ethiopia, company registry Ethiopia, Central Commercial Register Ethiopia, MoTRI Ethiopia, etrade.gov.et, business license checker Ethiopia, Commercial Code 1243/2021, Proclamation 980/2016, private limited company Ethiopia, share company Ethiopia, TIN Ethiopia, Ethiopian Investment Commission