Companies in Ukraine are entered in the Єдиний державний реєстр юридичних осіб, фізичних осіб — підприємців та громадських формувань (ЄДР, Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations), maintained by the Міністерство юстиції України (Ministry of Justice of Ukraine). The register is searchable free of charge on the ministry’s electronic-services portal at usr.minjust.gov.ua, and registration actions can also be carried out through the state services portal Дія (Diia). One register covers companies, sole traders and public formations alike.

The company registry in Ukraine

The governing statute is the Закон України «Про державну реєстрацію юридичних осіб, фізичних осіб — підприємців та громадських формувань» № 755-IV (Law on State Registration of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations). Registration actions are performed not by a single agency but by state registrars, notaries and accredited entities, all writing into the same central register, which is why a Ukrainian company can be incorporated at a notary’s office or through Diia and appear in the ЄДР immediately.

Ukraine therefore does not operate separate registers for legal entities and for sole traders: the фізична особа — підприємець (ФОП, individual entrepreneur) sits in the same ЄДР as a limited liability company, alongside branches and representative offices of foreign legal entities and non-commercial public formations.

The single most consequential recent change is the repeal of the Commercial Code. The Господарський кодекс України (Commercial Code of Ukraine) ceased to have effect on 28 August 2025, when the Закон України «Про особливості регулювання підприємницької діяльності окремих видів юридичних осіб та їх об’єднань у перехідний період» № 4196-IX від 9 січня 2025 року entered into force. From that date it is no longer possible to create legal entities in a range of Soviet-legacy forms — state enterprises in their commercial, non-commercial and state-owned variants, municipal and joint municipal enterprises, приватне підприємство (private enterprise), іноземне підприємство (foreign enterprise), дочірнє підприємство (subsidiary enterprise), and enterprises of citizens’ associations, religious organisations, trade unions and consumer cooperation. Assigning property to legal entities on the right of economic management or operational administration is likewise prohibited. Entities already registered in those forms continue to exist, but from 28 August 2028 changes to the register entries of state and municipal enterprises will be limited to liquidation or transformation, changes of head, transfer of state property to the State Property Fund, and bankruptcy proceedings.

The practical effect is that new Ukrainian business is now channelled into the company forms of the Цивільний кодекс України (Civil Code of Ukraine) and the specialised company statutes, principally the Law on Limited and Additional Liability Companies and the Law on Joint-Stock Companies.

Legal forms that can be registered in Ukraine

  • Товариство з обмеженою відповідальністю, ТОВ (Limited Liability Company) — the dominant form; charter capital divided into participation shares, participants liable only to the extent of their unpaid contributions, one or more participants, no statutory minimum capital.
  • Товариство з додатковою відповідальністю, ТДВ (Additional Liability Company) — the same structure, except that participants bear additional subsidiary liability in a multiple of their contributions fixed by the charter.
  • Акціонерне товариство, АТ (Joint-Stock Company) — capital divided into shares; shareholders bear the risk of loss only up to the value of their shares. Ukrainian law distinguishes the приватне акціонерне товариство (private joint-stock company) from the публічне акціонерне товариство (public joint-stock company), the latter being subject to securities-market regulation.
  • Повне товариство (General Partnership) — all participants carry on business in the name of the partnership and bear joint and several liability with all their property.
  • Командитне товариство (Limited Partnership) — combines full participants with unlimited liability and contributors liable only up to their contributions.
  • Виробничий кооператив (Production Cooperative) — a member-based entity founded on the personal labour participation of its members.
  • Фермерське господарство (Farming Enterprise) — the agricultural family form, which may be registered as a legal entity or operated by an individual entrepreneur; the register carries a family-farm indicator.
  • Фізична особа — підприємець, ФОП (Individual Entrepreneur) — a natural person registered to trade without forming a legal entity, with personal liability; the most numerous category in the register.
  • Філія та представництво іноземної юридичної особи (Branch and representative office of a foreign legal entity) — not separate legal persons, but separately recorded in the ЄДР with their own identification data, management and beneficial-owner information.
  • Громадські формування (Public formations) — public associations, charitable organisations, trade unions, political parties and similar non-commercial bodies, registered in the same ЄДР under their own legislation.

Forms whose creation is now prohibited — private enterprise, state and municipal enterprises, foreign enterprise, subsidiary enterprise and the enterprises of associations, religious organisations, trade unions and consumer cooperation — still appear in the register for entities incorporated before 28 August 2025, so search results will continue to show them for years to come.

Information available from the Ukrainian registry

Information contained in the ЄДР is open and publicly accessible. For a legal entity the register records the name and organisational-legal form, the identification code, the founders, the beneficial owners, the management bodies and the persons authorised to represent the entity, the types of activity by KVED classification, and the registration history. For an individual entrepreneur it records the full name, the date of registration, information on any property manager and the family-farm indicator. Branches of foreign legal entities are recorded with their name, type, identification code, management details and beneficial-owner information.

Free access is provided in electronic form through the ministry’s portal, where anyone can search by legal entity, individual entrepreneur or separate subdivision and see the registration data and activity codes without payment. Two categories are excluded from what is disclosed: the registration numbers of taxpayer record cards and passport data. Access to some services in electronic form requires identification by means of electronic identification of medium or high assurance, such as a qualified electronic signature.

Beneficial ownership is part of the public record in Ukraine, not a separate restricted register: the кінцевий бенефіціарний власник (ultimate beneficial owner) of a legal entity is a registered particular of the ЄДР, and companies must periodically confirm those details — a procedure available through Diia.

The register is also released as open data. The Ministry of Justice publishes the ЄДР dataset weekly on the national open-data portal in XML format under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. However, because of martial law a number of fields are withheld from the public release, including the location of entities, their activity data, the addresses of founders and owners, contact details and the location of registration files. Anyone comparing the open dataset with pre-war extracts should expect those gaps.

Financial statements are not part of ЄДР publicity. Accounting and reporting obligations run to the tax and statistics authorities under separate legislation, and publication duties for large undertakings and public-interest entities are imposed by the accounting law rather than through the register.

Documents that can be obtained from the registry

  • Виписка з ЄДР (Extract from the Unified State Register) — the short-form document confirming an entity’s registration and its principal current particulars; used to open accounts, sign contracts and take part in tenders.
  • Витяг з ЄДР (Detailed extract from the Unified State Register) — the fuller statement of registered data, including founders, beneficial owners, governing bodies, representation powers and activity codes, and the recorded history of changes.
  • Довідка з ЄДР (Certificate from the Unified State Register) — a certificate on specific requested information, including confirmation that requested data is absent.
  • Установчі документи (Constitutional documents) — the charter or statute in the version filed with the register, which is held in electronic form in the registration file.
  • Результати реєстраційних дій (Results of registration actions) — the electronic records evidencing incorporation, amendment, reorganisation or termination.
  • Відомості про кінцевого бенефіціарного власника (Beneficial ownership information) — the registered ultimate beneficial owners and the ownership structure, part of the ordinary registry record rather than a separate restricted product.
  • Набір відкритих даних ЄДР (ЄДР open dataset) — the weekly XML release of the register on the national open-data portal, for bulk and automated use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which register holds Ukrainian companies?

The Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations (ЄДР), maintained by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and searchable at usr.minjust.gov.ua.

Is the Ukrainian company register free to search?

Yes. Free access to registration data, including activity codes, is provided in electronic form through the Ministry of Justice portal. Taxpayer record-card numbers and passport data are excluded, and some services require electronic identification.

Are beneficial owners public in Ukraine?

Yes. The ultimate beneficial owner is a registered particular of the ЄДР, and legal entities must confirm those details periodically; the confirmation can be filed through Diia.

What changed when the Commercial Code was repealed?

From 28 August 2025 the Commercial Code of Ukraine ceased to apply and Law No. 4196-IX took effect. New legal entities can no longer be created as private enterprises, state or municipal enterprises, foreign enterprises, subsidiary enterprises or the enterprises of associations, religious organisations, trade unions and consumer cooperation.

Why is some register data missing from the open dataset?

Because of martial law, the published open data excludes entity locations, activity data, addresses of founders and owners, contact details and the location of registration files.

Do sole traders appear in the same register as companies?

Yes. Individual entrepreneurs (ФОП) are registered in the same ЄДР as legal entities, together with branches of foreign legal entities and public formations.

Sources

  • Міністерство юстиції України — Єдиний державний реєстр юридичних осіб, фізичних осіб — підприємців та громадських формувань (Ministry of Justice, ЄДР portal) — usr.minjust.gov.ua
  • Портал відкритих даних — набір даних ЄДР (National open data portal, ЄДР dataset) — data.gov.ua
  • Закон України «Про особливості регулювання підприємницької діяльності окремих видів юридичних осіб та їх об’єднань у перехідний період» № 4196-IX — zakon.rada.gov.ua
  • Закон України «Про державну реєстрацію юридичних осіб, фізичних осіб — підприємців та громадських формувань» № 755-IV — data.rada.gov.ua
  • Верховний Суд — Господарський кодекс України втратив чинність: ключові зміни з 28 серпня 2025 року — supreme.court.gov.ua
  • Державна податкова служба України — відомості ЄДР є відкритими і загальнодоступними (State Tax Service on open access to ЄДР data) — tax.gov.ua
  • Гід онлайн Дія — підтвердження відомостей про кінцевого бенефіціарного власника юридичної особи — guide.diia.gov.ua

Keywords

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