Companies in Spain are entered in the Registro Mercantil (Mercantile Register), a public register kept under the authority of the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes and operated by professional registrars (registradores mercantiles). The register is territorial: each province has its own Registro Mercantil, coordinated by the Registro Mercantil Central (Central Mercantile Register) in Madrid, which reserves company names and publishes registry data nationally at rmc.es. A capital company only acquires legal personality once its deed of incorporation is inscribed in the Registro Mercantil of its registered office.

The company registry in Spain

The legal foundation of the system is article 16 of the Código de Comercio (Commercial Code), which states that the Registro Mercantil exists to register individual entrepreneurs, commercial companies, credit and insurance undertakings, mutual guarantee companies, collective investment institutions and pension funds, economic interest groupings, professional civil companies, and any person or act that a law makes registrable. Article 17 adds that the register is kept under the Ministry of Justice on the sistema de hoja personal (personal-sheet system), that it sits in provincial capitals, and that a merely informative Registro Mercantil Central is established in Madrid.

Spain therefore does not operate two separate registers for companies and for sole traders: both are handled by the same Registro Mercantil. The difference is the obligation. Under article 19 of the Código de Comercio, inscription is potestativa (optional) for the empresario individual (sole trader) — with the sole exception of the naviero (shipowner), for whom it is compulsory — while for all other subjects listed in article 16 registration is mandatory and must normally be sought within one month of the execution of the necessary documents.

The structure has three practical layers. The Registros Mercantiles provinciales (provincial mercantile registers) hold the actual company files and carry out inscriptions, the legalisation of books, the deposit of annual accounts and the appointment of experts and auditors; they are listed in the official Directorio de Registros Mercantiles. The Registro Mercantil Central issues the certificación negativa de denominación social (negative certificate of company name) without which no company can be incorporated, and centralises registry data for informative purposes. Finally, the Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (BORME, Official Gazette of the Mercantile Register), published by the Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, gives statutory publicity to registered acts; it is free at boe.es/diario_borme and is divided into Sección Primera. Empresarios (registered acts, arranged by province) and Sección Segunda. Anuncios y avisos legales (general-meeting notices, mergers, capital reductions and similar corporate announcements).

Two further official registers complete the picture. Beneficial ownership is held in the Registro Central de Titularidades Reales (RCTIR, Central Register of Beneficial Ownership) at the Ministry of Justice, created by Real Decreto 609/2023 and operational since 19 September 2023. Cooperatives are not among the subjects listed in article 16 of the Código de Comercio and are instead entered in the state or autonomous-community cooperative registers.

Since Ley 11/2023 and Real Decreto 442/2023 (which transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1151 and applies from 9 May 2024), Spanish companies carry a European Unique Identifier (EUID), branches of EU companies can be registered fully online, and core company data is exchanged free of charge through the European system of interconnection of registers (BRIS).

Legal forms that can be registered in Spain

The following forms are those listed by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism on its official Plataforma PYME. Not all of them are inscribed in the Registro Mercantil: capital companies always are, whereas comunidades de bienes and ordinary sociedades civiles are not, and cooperatives go to the cooperative registers.

  • Empresario Individual (Autónomo) — sole trader; unlimited personal liability, no minimum capital, registration in the Registro Mercantil optional.
  • Emprendedor de Responsabilidad Limitada (Entrepreneur with Limited Liability) — a sole trader who, by registering as such, shields the habitual dwelling from business debts within legal limits; liability otherwise unlimited.
  • Comunidad de Bienes (Community of Property) — two or more owners exploiting a common asset; no minimum capital, unlimited liability, no separate legal personality.
  • Sociedad Civil (Civil Partnership) — contractual partnership for a common activity; unlimited liability, no minimum capital.
  • Sociedad Colectiva (General Partnership) — commercial partnership in which all partners manage the business and answer for its debts without limit.
  • Sociedad Comanditaria Simple (Simple Limited Partnership) — combines general partners with unlimited liability and silent partners liable only up to their contribution.
  • Sociedad Comanditaria por Acciones (Partnership Limited by Shares) — as above but with share capital of at least EUR 60,000; the managing partner remains personally liable.
  • Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, S.L. (Limited Liability Company) — by far the most common form; one or more shareholders, minimum capital of one euro since Ley 18/2022 de creación y crecimiento de empresas, liability limited to the contribution.
  • Sociedad Anónima, S.A. (Public Limited Company) — capital divided into freely transferable shares, minimum EUR 60,000; required for listed and certain regulated businesses.
  • Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada Laboral (Employee-Owned Limited Company) — an S.L. in which the majority of capital belongs to employees on permanent contracts.
  • Sociedad Anónima Laboral (Employee-Owned Public Limited Company) — the same principle applied to a sociedad anónima.
  • Sociedades Profesionales (Professional Companies) — companies whose corporate purpose is the joint exercise of a regulated profession; they adopt one of the ordinary company forms and are also entered in the relevant professional association register.
  • Sociedad Cooperativa (Cooperative Society) — member-owned entity; capital fixed by the statutes, liability limited, entered in the cooperative register.
  • Sociedad Cooperativa de Trabajo Asociado (Worker Cooperative) — a cooperative whose members supply their own labour.
  • Sociedad Agraria de Transformación (Agrarian Transformation Company) — civil-law entity for agricultural production and marketing; at least three members, unlimited liability.
  • Agrupación de Interés Económico (Economic Interest Grouping) — auxiliary vehicle for the activity of its members; no minimum capital, members subsidiarily liable without limit.
  • Sociedad de Garantía Recíproca (Mutual Guarantee Company) — supervised entity that guarantees the financing of its member SMEs.
  • Entidades de Capital-Riesgo (Venture Capital Entities) — venture-capital companies and funds and their management companies, subject to specific minimum capital and to CNMV supervision.
  • Sucursal de sociedad extranjera (Branch of a foreign company) — not a separate legal person, but must be inscribed in the Registro Mercantil of the province where it operates.

Information available from the Spanish registry

The Registro Mercantil is public. Publicity is delivered in two forms: the nota simple informativa (simple informative note), which reproduces registry content for information only, and the certificación (certification), the only document that accredits registry content with the evidentiary value of a public document. Both are issued through the registrars’ sede electrónica, to which online mercantile publicity was moved following Ley 11/2023.

Freely searchable, without a request, are: the BORME archive at boe.es; the Consulta de Denominación Social (company-name availability check) of the Registro Mercantil Central; and the Portal de Datos Abiertos de Sociedades Mercantiles, whose Directorio de Sociedades publishes the open dataset foreseen in article 17.5 of the Código de Comercio as worded by Ley 11/2023 — company name and legal form, registered office, member state and registry number, EUID, website, status (active, dissolved, liquidated, struck off), corporate object, and the persons authorised to represent the company and whether they act jointly or severally. The same portal hosts the Portal Estadístico Registral, a Geoportal and a catalogue of datasets.

On request, the register also yields the full inscription history of a company: incorporation, capital increases and reductions, structural modifications such as mergers and spin-offs, changes of registered office and corporate object, appointment and revocation of directors, powers of attorney, insolvency entries, dissolution and liquidation. Annual accounts deposited by the company — balance sheet, profit and loss account, notes, management report and audit report where required — are equally available, together with the articles of association and the record of legalised books.

What is not open is beneficial ownership. Under Real Decreto 609/2023 and Ley 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering, the RCTIR identifies the natural persons who ultimately own or control more than 25 per cent of the capital or voting rights, but access is limited to designated authorities, to sujetos obligados (obliged entities) and to applicants who demonstrate a legitimate interest; the general public cannot browse it. Authorities also obtain beneficial-ownership data through the registrars’ own database, as in the agreement of 21 April 2026 between the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea and the Colegio de Registradores published in the BOE.

Documents that can be obtained from the registry

  • Nota simple informativa (Simple Informative Note) — a summary of the company file: identification, capital, registered office, corporate object, directors and representatives, acts published in the BORME, accounts deposited and books legalised. Used for routine due diligence and counterparty checks.
  • Certificación del Registro Mercantil (Registry Certification) — the only formal proof of registry content, signed by the registrar; required for notarial deeds, tenders, court proceedings and dealings abroad.
  • Certificación negativa de denominación social (Negative Certificate of Company Name) — issued by the Registro Mercantil Central; confirms the chosen name is free and reserves it, a precondition for incorporation.
  • Cuentas anuales depositadas (Deposited Annual Accounts) — the filed financial statements of a given financial year, with the management report and audit report where applicable; used for credit and solvency analysis.
  • Estatutos sociales (Articles of Association) — the company’s constitutional rules as registered, including any amendments.
  • Información sobre poderes y cargos (Information on Powers and Offices) — who may legally bind the company, with the scope and validity of each power of attorney.
  • Certificado de titularidad real (Beneficial Ownership Certificate) — issued through the electronic office of the Ministry of Justice from the RCTIR, subject to the access restrictions described above.
  • BORME anuncios (BORME Notices) — the officially published entries and corporate announcements, free of charge and citable as official publicity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official business register in Spain?

The Registro Mercantil (Mercantile Register), kept under the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes. Filings are made at the provincial register of the company’s registered office; the Registro Mercantil Central in Madrid handles company names and national informative publicity.

Is there a free company search in Spain?

Yes. The Directorio de Sociedades of the registrars’ open-data portal publishes the core company data listed in article 17.5 of the Código de Comercio, and the BORME archive on boe.es is fully free.

Do sole traders have to register?

No. Article 19 of the Código de Comercio makes registration optional for the empresario individual, except for shipowners. An unregistered sole trader, however, cannot register any document in the Registro Mercantil or rely on its legal effects.

What is the minimum capital for a Spanish company?

One euro for a sociedad de responsabilidad limitada since Ley 18/2022, and EUR 60,000 for a sociedad anónima and a sociedad comanditaria por acciones, under the Ley de Sociedades de Capital.

When must annual accounts be filed?

Article 279 of the Ley de Sociedades de Capital requires directors to file the approved accounts for deposit at the Registro Mercantil of the registered office within one month of their approval by the shareholders. Failure to do so triggers cierre registral — the register refuses to inscribe further documents for that company. Filings made after 29 May 2026 must use the models approved by the Resolución of 19 May 2026 of the Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública, which switch to CNAE 2025 and add a public country-by-country reporting model.

Can beneficial owners of Spanish companies be looked up publicly?

No. The Registro Central de Titularidades Reales is accessible only to competent authorities, obliged entities and applicants with a demonstrated legitimate interest.

Sources

  • Código de Comercio (Commercial Code) — boe.es
  • Real Decreto 1784/1996 — Reglamento del Registro Mercantil (Mercantile Register Regulation) — boe.es
  • Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2010 — Ley de Sociedades de Capital (Capital Companies Act) — boe.es
  • Ley 11/2023, de 8 de mayo, de trasposición de Directivas de la Unión Europea (Act on the digitalisation of notarial and registry procedures) — boe.es
  • Real Decreto 442/2023, de 13 de junio (amending the Mercantile Register Regulation) — boe.es
  • Real Decreto 609/2023, de 11 de julio — Registro Central de Titularidades Reales (Central Register of Beneficial Ownership) — boe.es
  • Resolución de 19 de mayo de 2026 sobre modelos de cuentas anuales (Resolution on annual accounts models) — boe.es
  • Registro Mercantil Central (Central Mercantile Register) — rmc.es
  • Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (Official Gazette of the Mercantile Register) — boe.es/diario_borme
  • Portal de Datos Abiertos de Sociedades Mercantiles — Directorio de Sociedades (Open Data Portal, Company Directory) — opendata.registradores.org
  • Sede electrónica del Colegio de Registradores — Publicidad mercantil (Registrars’ electronic office, mercantile publicity) — sede.registradores.org
  • Ministerio de la Presidencia, Justicia y Relaciones con las Cortes — Registro Mercantil — mjusticia.gob.es
  • Ministerio de la Presidencia, Justicia y Relaciones con las Cortes — Registro Central de Titularidades Reales — mjusticia.gob.es
  • Plataforma PYME, Ministerio de Industria y Turismo — Elección de forma jurídica (Choice of legal form) — plataformapyme.es

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