Businesses in Moldova are registered by the Agenția Servicii Publice (Public Services Agency), which keeps the Registrul de stat al persoanelor juridice (State Register of Legal Entities) and the Registrul de stat al întreprinzătorilor individuali (State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs) under Law No. 220/2007. Registration works on a single-window principle, is completed within twenty-four working hours, and gives the entity an IDNO that doubles as its tax code. Moldova is comparatively open on ownership: the standard register extract shows the associates, their participation shares and the beneficial owners, the last of these to anyone who demonstrates a legitimate interest.

The official company register in Moldova

The registrar is the Agenția Servicii Publice, ASP (Public Services Agency), at asp.gov.md, acting under the Legea nr. 220/2007 privind înregistrarea de stat a persoanelor juridice și a întreprinzătorilor individuali (Law on the State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs). It maintains two state registers side by side — one for legal persons and one for individual entrepreneurs — and it registers the branches of Moldovan legal entities as well as the branches of foreign legal entities.

Registration follows the single-window principle. It is completed within twenty-four working hours from the working day following submission, with an expedited four-hour option, and the registering authority then transmits the data electronically so that the entity is automatically taken on record for fiscal, statistical, medical insurance and social insurance purposes. On approval the applicant receives the registration decision, the constituent documents, an extract from the State Register and a stamp, and the entity is assigned an IDNO (state identification number) which also serves as its fiscal code.

Moldova therefore keeps separate registers for legal entities and for individual entrepreneurs, but both are held by the same agency, follow the same procedure and are searched in the same way. Non-commercial organisations — public associations, foundations and private institutions — are also registered by ASP, under the legislation on non-commercial organisations rather than under the general company rules.

One service peculiar to Moldova deserves mention: ASP provides for the provisional taking on record of economic agents registered by the authorities on the left bank of the Nistru, including the amendment of the data entered in the State Register. Entities from that territory are therefore not simply absent from the register; they can appear in it through a distinct provisional procedure, which matters when verifying a Transnistrian counterparty.

Legal forms that can be registered in Moldova

The forms available follow the Civil Code and the legislation on entrepreneurship and enterprises, with dedicated statutes for limited liability companies and joint stock companies.

Commercial companies:

  • Societate cu răspundere limitată, SRL (Limited liability company) — the dominant Moldovan form. Capital is divided into participation shares that are not freely transferable, associates answer only up to their contributions, and the company may be formed by a single associate.
  • Societate pe acțiuni, SA (Joint stock company) — capital divided into shares, shareholders liable only for their shares; the form required for banks, insurers and other regulated businesses and the one used to raise capital on the market.
  • Societate în nume colectiv, SNC (General partnership) — the members carry on business under a common name and answer for the obligations of the partnership with all their property.
  • Societate în comandită, SC (Limited partnership) — combines members with unlimited liability, who manage the business, and comanditari whose risk is confined to their contribution.

Cooperative and public forms:

  • Cooperativă de producție (Production cooperative) — a member-owned enterprise in which the members participate through their own labour.
  • Cooperativă de întreprinzător (Entrepreneurial cooperative) — a cooperative whose members are themselves businesses, formed to serve their common economic needs.
  • Întreprindere de stat and Întreprindere municipală (State enterprise and municipal enterprise) — enterprises founded on state or local public property, managed on behalf of the founder.

Forms without legal personality:

  • Întreprinzător individual, ÎI (Individual entrepreneur) — a natural person carrying on business in his own name, personally liable without limit and entered in the separate State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs.
  • Gospodărie țărănească (de fermier) (Peasant or farmer household) — the agricultural form for a family working its own land, registered together with individual entrepreneurs.
  • Filială și reprezentanță (Branch and representative office) — subdivisions of a Moldovan or foreign legal entity, registered in the State Register but without legal personality of their own.

Non-commercial legal persons — the asociație obștească (public association), the fundație (foundation) and the instituție privată (private institution) — are registered by the same agency under the non-commercial organisations legislation, and appear in the State Register of Legal Entities alongside companies.

Information available from the register

The central product is the extras (informație) din Registrul de stat (extract from the State Register), and its content is what makes Moldova unusually informative. The extract shows the name of the legal person or the name of the individual entrepreneur, the legal form of organisation, the IDNO state identification number, the date of registration, the registered seat, the name of the administrator, the size of the share capital, the names of the associates and the participation share of each of them, the principal object of activity, and information on the beneficial owners.

Extracts are ordered online through the agency’s e-extras service, in person at an ASP office, or by electronic authorisation through the government’s MPower platform, with delivery available through the state MDelivery service. Turnaround ranges from immediate to three working days depending on the option chosen.

Beyond the extract, the register holds the registration decision and the decisions on subsequent amendments, the constituent documents as registered, and the record of reorganisation, suspension and liquidation. Because registration is a single-window act that also creates the fiscal record, the IDNO links the register entry to the State Tax Service, where a taxpayer’s own cabinet gives access to its registered information.

Beneficial ownership is accessible on a legitimate-interest basis. Under Article 34(2) of Law No. 220/2007, beneficial owner data is available to any natural or legal person who demonstrates a legitimate interest, subject to personal data protection rules, and it can be obtained through an extract from the State Register, through the constituent documents, or through the government interoperability platform. Whether the register holds beneficial owner data for a given entity can itself be checked from the registration decision, from an extract, or through the taxpayer’s cabinet on the State Tax Service site. Entities must keep their registration documents at their registered office in paper or electronic form.

What the register does not disclose

Annual accounts are not part of the register. Financial statements are submitted to the statistical and tax authorities rather than filed with the Public Services Agency, so the State Register extract carries no financial data and the accounts of a Moldovan SRL cannot be obtained from it.

Beneficial ownership is not an open search. Access requires a demonstrated legitimate interest and is exercised through an extract or the interoperability platform, not through an anonymous public lookup, and it is bounded by data protection rules. For a joint stock company, moreover, the shareholders are recorded in the register of securities holders maintained in the securities system rather than in the State Register, so the shareholder picture for an SA is not established from a register extract in the way that the associates of an SRL are.

Extracts are chargeable products with tariffs that rise with urgency, so systematic screening has a cost. And the register speaks only to corporate status: licences for regulated activities are issued by the competent authorities, and tax standing must be confirmed with the State Tax Service.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Extras din Registrul de stat (Extract from the State Register) — the principal official document: name, legal form, IDNO, date of registration, seat, administrator, share capital, associates and their participation shares, principal activity and beneficial owner information. The standard document for banks, notaries, tenders and contracts.
  • Decizia de înregistrare (Registration decision) — the registrar’s decision by which the entity was registered, and the corresponding decisions on each subsequent amendment; it is also one of the documents from which beneficial owner data can be read.
  • Actele de constituire (Constituent documents) — the articles or statute as registered, setting out the objects, the capital, the powers of the general meeting and of the administrator, and the rules on transfer of participation shares.
  • Informație privind modificările înregistrate (Information on registered amendments) — the record of changes of name, seat, capital, activity, administrator and associates, used to establish who could bind the entity at a given date.
  • Certificat privind înregistrarea filialei sau reprezentanței (Certificate on the registration of a branch or representative office) — the registration of a subdivision of a Moldovan or foreign legal entity and the particulars of the person authorised to act for it.
  • Documente privind întreprinzătorul individual sau gospodăria țărănească (Documents on an individual entrepreneur or peasant household) — the registration and particulars held in the separate register for individual entrepreneurs.
  • Informație privind beneficiarii efectivi (Beneficial owner information) — supplied through an extract, through the constituent documents or through the interoperability platform to a person demonstrating a legitimate interest.
  • Documente privind reorganizarea și lichidarea (Reorganisation and liquidation documents) — the decisions and records evidencing merger, division, transformation, suspension of activity or striking off, and the date of each.
  • Documente privind luarea la evidență provizorie (Provisional record documents) — the papers relating to economic agents registered by the authorities on the left bank of the Nistru that have been taken on provisional record in the State Register.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official business register in Moldova?

It is the State Register of Legal Entities and the State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, both kept by the Public Services Agency under Law No. 220/2007. Registration and extracts are handled at asp.gov.md and through the government services portal.

What is an IDNO?

The state identification number assigned to an entity on registration. It identifies the entity in the State Register and simultaneously serves as its fiscal code, which is why the same number appears in registry, tax and customs records.

How long does registration take?

Twenty-four working hours from the working day following submission, with an expedited option of four hours. The registrar then automatically passes the data on for fiscal, statistical, medical insurance and social insurance registration.

Does the Moldovan extract show who owns a company?

For a limited liability company, yes: the extract lists the associates and the participation share of each. It also carries information on the beneficial owners, which is available to a person demonstrating a legitimate interest under Article 34(2) of Law No. 220/2007.

Are the accounts of Moldovan companies public?

No. Financial statements go to the statistical and tax authorities, not to the Public Services Agency, and the State Register extract contains no financial data.

Can a company registered in Transnistria be found in the register?

Sometimes, through a separate route. The Public Services Agency operates a procedure for the provisional taking on record of economic agents registered by the authorities on the left bank of the Nistru, including the amendment of their data in the State Register.

Sources

Keywords

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