The business register in Senegal is the Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier — RCCM (Trade and Personal Property Credit Register), a register created by OHADA law and kept by the court registries. Senegal applies the Acte uniforme portant sur le droit commercial général (Uniform Act on General Commercial Law) and the Acte uniforme relatif au droit des sociétés commerciales et du groupement d’intérêt économique (Uniform Act on Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groupings), so its company forms and registry rules are shared with sixteen other African states. Local registries are consolidated in a National File, itself fed into an OHADA Regional File.

The company registry in Senegal

Under the Uniform Act the RCCM is kept by the registry of the competent court, under the supervision of its president or a delegated judge. Senegal set out the national arrangements in the Décret n° 2021-420 du 2 avril 2021 relatif aux modalités de fonctionnement du RCCM (Decree No. 2021-420 of 2 April 2021 on the operation of the RCCM): the register is kept by the registry of the tribunal de grande instance and, where one exists, of the tribunal de commerce, the commercial courts having been created by the law of 28 June 2017. The Fichier National (National File) is kept by the registry of the Tribunal de Commerce Hors Classe de Dakar under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, and the decree also provides for an electronic RCCM platform and a national electronic register of movable securities open to public consultation.

The national online interface is SEN’INFOGREFFE, presented on its own pages as an initiative of the Ministry of Justice covering all RCCM registries. It offers free searching of trade names and of the register of movable securities, with search keys including the RCCM number, the company name, the taxpayer identifier and the legal form; fuller documents and services require an account.

The one-stop shop and the NINEA

The investment promotion agency APIX operates a guichet unique (one-stop shop) instituted by decree in 2000. It should be noted, as a matter of official record, that the Ministry of Economy’s national private sector development strategy published in February 2026 states that administrative compartmentalisation between the tax administration, the pension and labour bodies and the commercial court registries prevents genuine dematerialisation, so real incorporation times exceed the advertised standards and the one-stop shop functions in practice as an information point.

Every business also needs the Numéro d’Identification national des Entreprises et Associations — NINEA (National Identification Number for Enterprises and Associations), issued by the tax administration and required before activity begins; investment and small-business agencies transmit the request to the tax administration on the applicant’s behalf.

Sole traders

Sole traders are in the same register, but OHADA law distinguishes two statuses. A commerçant personne physique (individual merchant) must be registered in the RCCM. The entreprenant, a lighter status for very small operators, is exempt from registration and instead files a declaration of activity in the same register, receiving a declaration number.

Legal forms that can be registered in Senegal

  • Société à responsabilité limitée — SARL (Private limited company) — members are liable only up to their contributions; it may have a single member. Senegal legislated twice on its capital, first reducing the OHADA default and then leaving the partners free to fix the share capital, so there is no statutory minimum. The standard vehicle for small and medium businesses.
  • Société anonyme — SA (Public limited company) — shareholders are liable up to their contributions; the minimum capital is FCFA 10,000,000, rising to FCFA 100,000,000 where there is a public offering. It may have a single shareholder.
  • Société par actions simplifiée — SAS (Simplified joint-stock company) — liability limited to contributions, with the internal organisation freely set by the statutes; introduced by the 2014 revision of the companies act.
  • Société en nom collectif — SNC (General partnership) — all partners have the status of trader and are indefinitely and jointly liable for the company’s debts.
  • Société en commandite simple — SCS (Limited partnership) — the commandités are indefinitely liable while the commanditaires answer only up to their contribution.
  • Groupement d’intérêt économique — GIE (Economic interest grouping) — acquires legal personality on registration; its purpose is to support its members’ activity rather than to make profits of its own, and members are jointly and severally liable for its debts.
  • Succursale de société étrangère (Branch of a foreign company) — registered but with no separate legal personality. OHADA law adds a distinctive rule: a branch belonging to a foreign company must be contributed to a company incorporated in an OHADA state within two years, unless exempted by order of the minister responsible for trade. A bureau de représentation ou de liaison (representative or liaison office) is likewise registrable.
  • Entreprise individuelle / commerçant personne physique (Sole trader) — registered in the RCCM with unlimited personal liability; the entreprenant files a declaration instead.
  • Sociétés d’État et sociétés d’économie mixte, établissements publics à activité économique (State companies, mixed-economy companies and public establishments carrying on an economic activity) — also entered in the register, as are civil companies that are commercial by their object.

Two structures exist but never appear in the register: the société en participation (undisclosed partnership), which the partners agree not to register, and the société de fait (de facto company), neither of which has legal personality. Cooperatives are registered elsewhere: under the OHADA uniform act on cooperative companies they are entered in a registre des sociétés coopératives (register of cooperative companies) kept by the local territorial administration, not in the RCCM.

Information available from the Senegalese business register

Publicity is the register’s stated purpose: the Uniform Act provides that the information in the register’s forms, registers and repertoires is intended for the information of the public, and imposes the same duty on the National File and on the Regional File held at the OHADA common court of justice, each of which must answer requests immediately or within forty-eight hours. Anyone may obtain, including electronically, the data on the forms and extracts or copies of the documents published at the register under the commercial, company and accounting uniform acts, at a cost capped at the administrative cost. Incorporation and amendment notices are additionally published in a newspaper authorised to carry legal announcements, and consultation of the securities register is public.

Financial statements are filed with the register. Commercial companies must deposit their approved annual financial statements — balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and notes — at the RCCM within one month of their approval, with electronic filing permitted, and they are therefore obtainable through the general right to copies. They are separately declared to the tax administration.

What is restricted

Senegal’s beneficial ownership register is narrow in scope and closed in access. The Décret n° 2020-791 du 19 mars 2020 relatif au Registre des Bénéficiaires effectifs (Decree No. 2020-791 of 19 March 2020 on the Register of Beneficial Owners) created the register at the RCCM registries under the supervision of the register judge, but it applies to entities in the extractive sector value chain, reflecting Senegal’s transparency commitments in mining and hydrocarbons. A beneficial owner is a natural person holding, directly or indirectly, at least two per cent of the capital or voting rights, or otherwise exercising control. Access is granted only on request to the supervising judge and on proof of a legitimate interest; free automatic access is reserved to judges and judicial police, the treasury, budget, mining, hydrocarbons, customs and tax administrations, the extractive industries transparency committee, the anti-fraud body and the financial intelligence unit.

Two practical cautions apply. First, whether Senegal has since moved to an all-entity central beneficial ownership register under the regional anti-money-laundering framework could not be confirmed on a reachable official source, so the 2020 extractive-sector register is what is verifiable. Second, Senegalese company data was not retrievable through the OHADA regional portal’s public search at the time of writing, even though the Regional File is a legal obligation; national channels should therefore be used.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Extrait RCCM (RCCM extract) — the identity of the entity, its registration number, legal form, capital, object, seat, duration, managers or directors, statutory auditors, establishments and branches, and any subsequent entries. The standard proof of registration and current legal status.
  • Certificat d’immatriculation (Certificate of registration) — issued on completion of the formality and stating the date and the RCCM number; the basic proof of existence, required among other things in the tax identification file.
  • Certificat de non-inscription de sûretés (Certificate of no registered security) — under the uniform act on securities the registrar must answer any information request within two working days, either with a certificate that no entry exists or with a general or particular statement of the entries. Used as clean-title evidence.
  • Copies des statuts et des actes déposés (Copies of the articles of association and of filed instruments) — held in the entity’s individual file and issued as copies or extracts; electronic copies are certified only where certification is expressly requested.
  • État des inscriptions de sûretés (Statement of registered security interests) — pledges over business assets, equipment, stock and receivables, leasing agreements and privileges, drawn from the national electronic repertoire which is open to public consultation.
  • États financiers déposés (Filed annual financial statements) — the accounts deposited under the companies uniform act, obtainable as copies from the register.
  • NINEA — the national identification number for enterprises and associations, issued by the tax administration and used for tax, customs, banking and public procurement purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the business register in Senegal called?

The Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier (RCCM), kept by the registries of the commercial courts and the courts of first instance, with a National File held at the Dakar commercial court and a Regional File at the OHADA level.

Which law governs companies in Senegal?

OHADA uniform law: the Uniform Act on General Commercial Law for the register and the Uniform Act on Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groupings, in its 2014 revision, for the company forms.

Is there a minimum capital for a Senegalese SARL?

No. Senegal used the option left by OHADA law to legislate on the point, first reducing the default figure and then leaving the partners free to fix the capital. A public limited company requires FCFA 10,000,000.

Are sole traders registered?

An individual merchant is registered in the RCCM. The entreprenant, a simplified status for very small operators, is exempt from registration and files a declaration of activity instead.

Are financial statements public in Senegal?

They are filed. Commercial companies deposit their approved annual accounts at the register within a month of approval, and copies of documents published at the register may be obtained by anyone.

Can I look up beneficial owners of Senegalese companies?

Only within a narrow regime. The 2020 register of beneficial owners covers the extractive sector value chain, and access requires proof of a legitimate interest before the supervising judge, with automatic access reserved to listed authorities.

Sources

Keywords

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