European Public Records by Country (2026): Registers

Who can still see who owns a European company?

The short answer

In most of Europe, only people with a "legitimate interest". On 22 November 2022 the EU Court of Justice ruled that making beneficial-ownership data "accessible in all cases to any member of the general public" was invalid CJEU, WM and Sovim, C-37/20 and C-601/20 (22 Nov 2022). Most registers closed or restricted access soon after.

Journalists and NGOs have a way back in. The 2024 anti-money-laundering directive presumes a legitimate interest for journalists and civil-society organisations working on money laundering, and gives them five years of historical data Directive (EU) 2024/1640, Art. 12, via Springlex. Countries had to bring those access rules in by 10 July 2026 Directive (EU) 2024/1640, Art. 78, via Springlex, but practice still differs from country to country.

Still public in October 2026: the UK, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. Company basics, court rulings and insolvencies remain mostly free across the EU.

Who can see beneficial-ownership data, October 2026. Sources are in each country section below.

Country	Beneficial-ownership register	Route for journalists and NGOs
United Kingdom	Public and free (PSC register; overseas entities)	Not needed
Poland	Public; restriction planned for 1 Jan 2027	Draft gives on-request access
Estonia	Public; planned restriction postponed	Not needed for now
Latvia	Public by policy; eID login to see people	Not needed
France	Legitimate interest since 31 Jul 2024	Yes: journalists, non-profits, researchers (INPI form)
Spain	Legitimate interest	Yes: media and civil society named
Slovenia	Legitimate interest	Yes: journalists, NGOs, academia by profession
Austria	Legitimate interest (ID Austria login)	Yes: press and NGOs presumed; court widened what they see
Sweden	Legitimate interest from 1 Jul 2026	Yes: 3-year certificate for media and NGOs
Norway	Not public	Yes: media, NGOs, universities
Netherlands	Legitimate interest from 3 Jun 2026	Named in law; application process not yet published
Germany	Legitimate interest; fee per query	Easier access in a 2026 draft law
Belgium	Legitimate interest since Feb 2023	Anti-money-laundering purpose test
Denmark	Legitimate interest since 1 Sep 2025; MitID and sworn declaration	Not named
Portugal	Legitimate interest (decree-law, Oct 2025)	Not described
Ireland	Narrow legitimate-interest test (2023)	Not explicit
Finland	Anti-money-laundering users only	Not confirmed
Czech Republic	Closed to the public since 17 Dec 2025; ask the registry court	No special route yet
Italy	Register suspended by the courts	On paper only
Slovakia, Lithuania	Not confirmed	Not confirmed

Which EU-wide search tools work across countries?

Company search across the EU (BRIS). The e-Justice portal's business registers search queries the national company registers, which have been interconnected since June 2017. Documents may cost money at the national register e-Justice (read 16 Oct 2026).
Insolvency search (IRI). The Insolvency Registers Interconnection searches debtors in 21 member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Denmark is excluded; Czechia, Italy and Slovenia are not on the list e-Justice (updated 4 Jun 2026).
Court decisions by ECLI. The ECLI search engine finds decisions that carry a European Case Law Identifier, from courts that share them.
The European Business Register has closed. Estonia's registry says EBR services stopped on 1 April 2026 because the central platform is closing RIK (read 16 Oct 2026). Older guides that still send you there are out of date.
Beneficial owners across the EU. The EU interconnection of ownership registers "currently cannot provide public access" since the 2022 ruling e-Justice (updated 24 Mar 2023).

How the new access rule works. Directive (EU) 2024/1640 EUR-Lex presumes a legitimate interest for two groups. One is journalists and media working on money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing. The other is civil-society organisations "including non-governmental organisations and academia" Art. 12, via Springlex. Registers must answer within 12 working days from 10 November 2026, and access is granted by a certificate valid for three years. We read the article text through Springlex, a reader that reproduces the Official Journal; check EUR-Lex before you cite it in a filing. For worldwide company data, our company search links OpenCorporates, GLEIF, OpenSanctions and OCCRP Aleph.

United Kingdom and Ireland

United Kingdom

Register	Where and how
Companies	Companies House: free, English. Officers, filings, charges, previous names, insolvency history, free alerts.
Beneficial owners	Public. People with significant control are on the same Companies House record GOV.UK PSC guidance (19 Nov 2025). The Register of Overseas Entities lists non-UK owners of UK property; trust details are not public GOV.UK.
Court rulings	Find Case Law (The National Archives): free; England and Wales courts, the Supreme Court and the Privy Council, mostly from the early 2000s. Not complete.
Land	England and Wales: HM Land Registry, title register £7, sign-in and card needed; covers most property sold since 1993. Scotland: ScotLIS, title sheet £3 plus VAT.
Insolvency	Individual Insolvency Register for personal cases; company notices in The Gazette.

Ireland

Register	Where and how
Companies	Companies Registration Office company search (CORE). Fees not confirmed.
Beneficial owners	Register of Beneficial Ownership: the public sees only the number of owners filed. Others must show a narrow legitimate interest under S.I. 308 of 2023 A&L Goodbody (27 Jun 2023).
Court rulings	Courts Service judgments: free, all main courts. Other court searches, including the bankruptcy register, are listed on courts.ie online searches.
Land	landdirect.ie (Tailte Éireann): free map search; €5 per owner-name search or folio copy Tailte Éireann.
Insolvency	Personal insolvency arrangements are on the Insolvency Service of Ireland registers; bankruptcies on the Courts Service register above.

France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria

France

Register	Where and how
Companies	Annuaire des Entreprises and Pappers are on our company search. Infogreffe sells certified Kbis extracts, filed accounts and statutes.
Beneficial owners	Closed to the general public since 31 July 2024 Le Coin des Entrepreneurs. Journalists, non-profits and university researchers can apply to INPI with a form and evidence, for anti-money-laundering purposes only INPI notice (June 2026).
Court rulings	Judilibre open data: about 480,000 Cour de cassation decisions plus appeal and first-instance courts in stages since 2022; free API with registration data.gouv.fr.
Land	cadastre.gouv.fr searches by address or parcel, not by owner. Owner details need a paper request to the tax office, capped for third parties Simonnet Avocat (modified 3 Sep 2026).
Insolvency	BODACC: official notices of collective proceedings, sales and deregistrations, under an open licence.

Germany

Register	Where and how
Companies	Handelsregister: free since 1 August 2022, no registration, documents downloadable WBS Legal.
Beneficial owners	Transparenzregister: legitimate interest required since December 2022 Haufe (12 Jan 2023). A March 2026 draft law would drop the link to a specific case for qualifying users but keep per-query fees and no search by person Transparency International Germany (31 Mar 2026).
Court rulings	No complete database; each federal court publishes its own, and state decisions are on the Justizportal e-Justice (updated 10 Jul 2026).
Land	Grundbuch: not public. You need a legitimate interest; the press can qualify for a specific property Otto Schmidt, on OLG Zweibrücken 2022.
Insolvency	Insolvenzbekanntmachungen: nationwide search, up to 1,000 hits; "no results" does not prove there is no case CMS (6 Nov 2024).

Netherlands

Register	Where and how
Companies	KVK Handelsregister, linked from our company search. Basic search is free; extracts are paid.
Beneficial owners	UBO register restricted from 3 June 2026 to anti-money-laundering parties and people with a legitimate interest; journalists and civil-society groups are named as examples, and KVK tells the owner that someone looked NJB. KVK has not yet described how journalists apply KVK (14 Oct 2026).
Court rulings	Rechtspraak.nl uitspraken: free; a selection of judgments, by ECLI.
Land	Kadaster Eigendomsinformatie: €3.70 online. Shows owner, restrictions, size and last sale price if known.
Insolvency	Central Insolvency Register: free for everyone, data since 2005, kept up to six months after a case ends Rechtspraak.nl.

Belgium

Register	Where and how
Companies	Crossroads Bank for Enterprises public search: free, in English, French, Dutch and German, with links to Official Gazette notices and filed accounts e-Justice.
Beneficial owners	Legitimate interest since February 2023, for purposes tied to fighting money laundering PwC Legal (9 Mar 2023).
Court rulings	JUPORTAL, the public case-law database.
Land	Owner details via MyMinfin, €5 per parcel, usually needing the owner's ID number and a stated reason; never for commercial or political use FPS Finance.
Insolvency	RegSol: files from May 2018; access to a file must be approved e-Justice.

Austria

Register	Where and how
Companies	Firmenbuch via JustizOnline: free key facts; paid extracts with ID Austria e-Justice.
Beneficial owners	Legitimate interest with ID Austria login. The Constitutional Court (G 62/2025, 7 Oct 2025) held journalists must also see historical data and ownership graphics Austrian Parliament (15 Jan 2026).
Court rulings	RIS: free, with an English version.
Land	Grundbuch: full extract €4.89; search by owner name only with proof of legal interest oesterreich.gv.at.
Insolvency	Ediktsdatei: free for everyone; cases stay visible a year after they end oesterreich.gv.at.

Spain, Italy and Portugal

Spain

Register	Where and how
Companies	Registro Mercantil extracts through the Colegio de Registradores.
Beneficial owners	Central register created by Royal Decree 609/2023: legitimate interest, with media and civil-society organisations expressly recognised CMS (20 Sep 2023).
Court rulings	CENDOJ: free, Supreme Court down to provincial courts e-Justice.
Land	"Nota simple" from registradores.org: €9.02 per property, showing owners and mortgages; search by owner name needs an e-certificate and a legitimate interest Bankinter (10 Dec 2024).
Insolvency	Registro Público Concursal: free search by debtor e-Justice.

Italy

Register	Where and how
Companies	Registro Imprese, linked from our company search; basic search free, extracts paid.
Beneficial owners	The register is suspended by court orders. A 2025 decree limits future private access to a documented legal interest A&O Shearman, and a 2026 decree names professional journalists, third-sector bodies and academics as examples Fisco7 (Jul 2026). We found no confirmed reopening date.
Court rulings	SentenzeWeb gives free Cassation judgments for the current and previous five years PMI.it (23 Aug 2023); the Portale dei Servizi Telematici shows anonymised case information e-Justice.
Land	Agenzia delle Entrate searches by person or property, paid via pagoPA e-Justice.
Insolvency	No national public insolvency register confirmed, and Italy is not in the EU interconnection. Check the company record in the Registro Imprese.

Portugal

Register	Where and how
Companies	Registo Comercial (IRN); we did not confirm current links or prices.
Beneficial owners	RCBE: a decree-law of October 2025 limits data to people who show a legitimate interest Observador (27 Oct 2025).
Court rulings	DGSI databases for the Supreme Court, appeal courts and the Constitutional Court.
Land	Predial Online: permanent certificate €15 a year per property e-Justice.
Insolvency	Citius insolvency notices: free e-Justice.

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia

Poland

Register	Where and how
Companies	National Court Register (KRS); the portal was down for maintenance when we checked, so we have not linked it.
Beneficial owners	CRBR is still fully public, one of few in the EU podatki.gov.pl (updated 30 Sep 2026). The government plans to restrict it from 1 January 2027 Akademia LTCA (29 Sep 2026).
Court rulings	Portal of common-court judgments.
Land	Electronic land registers (EKW): free, no login, shows owners and mortgages, but you need the land-register number; no search by owner e-prawnik.pl.
Insolvency	National Register of Debtors (KRZ): free, no account, from December 2021 Mikroporady.

Czech Republic

Register	Where and how
Companies	Public register and collection of deeds (Ministry of Justice). Its site refuses automated readers, so we have not linked it.
Beneficial owners	Closed to the general public since 17 December 2025; apply to the registry court with a legitimate interest Advokátní deník (8 Dec 2025). Journalists have no special route yet Seznam Zprávy.
Court rulings	Ministry of Justice decisions database: anonymised decisions, now including both high courts Advokátní deník (22 Dec 2025).
Land	Cadastre viewer: free, no registration; official extracts paid.
Insolvency	Insolvency register (ISIR); not in the EU interconnection. Its site refuses automated readers, so we have not linked it.

Slovakia

Register	Where and how
Land	The Land Register portal is free for everybody, including ownership sheets e-Justice.
Other registers	Slovak government sites refuse automated readers, so we could not confirm links. UNISHKA's OSINT of Slovakia (4 Sep 2026) lists the company, court and insolvency registers. Slovakia is in the EU insolvency interconnection.

Slovenia

Register	Where and how
Companies	AJPES business register: free with a free account, English interface.
Beneficial owners	Beneficial-owner register: legitimate interest only; journalists, NGOs and academia qualify by profession and apply with a digital certificate.
Court rulings	Sodna praksa case-law database; its site refuses automated readers, so we have not linked it.
Land	Land register via e-Sodstvo: free viewing and standard extract after registration; shows owners and mortgages data.si (5 Aug 2026).
Insolvency	AJPES insolvency notices: free, Slovene only. Not in the EU interconnection.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland

Denmark

Register	Where and how
Companies	CVR, the central business register; free search (we could not open it with our tools to link it).
Beneficial owners	Legitimate interest since 1 September 2025: single lookups with MitID and a sworn declaration Dansk Erhverv (3 Oct 2025).
Court rulings	Domsdatabasen: free; mostly civil rulings since 2022.
Land	Digital Land Register: without login you see the owner, value and mortgages Life in Denmark.
Insolvency	No insolvency register and not in the EU interconnection; bankruptcies are published in Statstidende.

Sweden

Register	Where and how
Companies	Bolagsverket: free basic search; fuller data needs an e-ID; certificates SEK 125 Kyckr (5 Feb 2026).
Beneficial owners	Legitimate-interest rules from 1 July 2026; media and NGOs get a three-year certificate, and the owner learns only their role, not their name Riksdag FiU35 (17 Mar 2026).
Court rulings	Only a selection of judgments is online; court documents can be requested under Sweden's public-access principle.
Land	"Vem äger fastigheten": 5 searches a day, EU/EEA only, logged for 21 days, and owners can ask who searched Lantmäteriet terms.
Insolvency	Free online bankruptcy check at Bolagsverket; data kept five years e-Justice.

Norway

Register	Where and how
Companies	Brønnøysund Register Centre: free basic search, paid certified extracts Topograph (15 May 2026).
Beneficial owners	Not public. Media, civil-society organisations and universities have access Norwegian Government.
Court rulings	Most rulings are in paid Lovdata Pro Store norske leksikon (29 Aug 2026).
Land	Kartverket "Se eiendom": free for any property, with MinID or BankID login Kartverket FAQ.

Finland

Register	Where and how
Companies	YTJ search is free; Virre gives a free electronic trade-register extract Kyckr (3 Jul 2026).
Beneficial owners	Details only for anti-money-laundering purposes; the public sees only that owners are registered PRH.
Court rulings	Finlex case law: free; supreme-court precedents and appeal-court texts from 2004.
Land	National Land Survey extracts and title certificates are paid.
Insolvency	Legal Register Centre insolvency register: free search, data from 1995 e-Justice.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Estonia

Register	Where and how
Companies	e-Business Register: mostly free, English RIK.
Beneficial owners	Still public. A restriction planned for 10 July 2026 was postponed with no new date ERR News.
Court rulings	Free; Supreme Court at riigikohus.ee.
Land	Since 15 January 2025 you can no longer search by owner name, only by address or number; €2 per search; journalists are exempt ERR News (14 Nov 2024).
Insolvency	Notices in Ametlikud Teadaanded, free.

Latvia

Register	Where and how
Companies	Register of Enterprises: free search, English section.
Beneficial owners	Public by policy Latvian Ministry of Justice (19 Apr 2024); viewing people needs an eID or eIDAS login, no fee Topograph (16 Jun 2026).
Court rulings	Anonymised decisions; Supreme Court case-law search.
Land	Zemesgrāmata: free search, €5 to view a folio with owner and mortgages e-Justice.
Insolvency	Insolvency register at the Register of Enterprises: free, from 2008 e-Justice.

Lithuania

Register	Where and how
Companies	Register of Legal Entities at Registrų centras; company status, including insolvency, is free e-Justice.
Beneficial owners	JANGIS; current public access not confirmed.
Land	Real Property Register data "is available by payment only" e-Justice.

How to use these registers responsibly

Start free: company register, insolvency notices and court rulings. They answer most questions.
Pay for land records only when you need the owner. Several registers log who searched and some tell the owner (Sweden, the Netherlands' ownership register).
Apply for beneficial-ownership access properly. If you are a journalist or work for an NGO on money laundering or corruption, keep evidence of your role and past work; registers can ask for it.
Record what you saw and when. Registers change and records expire; log each extract in our Evidence Logger.
Know the limits. These registers exist for transparency, not for tracking private individuals. Our Is OSINT legal? guide covers the GDPR and other rules.

Further reading. UNISHKA Research Service publishes country-by-country "OSINT World Series" guides covering 59 countries UNISHKA (read 16 Oct 2026), including Slovenia (9 Oct 2026), Slovakia, the United Kingdom and Lithuania. We used them as a starting point and checked each register on its own site.

Sources

All pages were read or status-checked on 16 October 2026. Where a government site refused automated readers (Slovakia, parts of Czechia, Slovenia and Germany), we did not work around it; we name the register without a link. Directive article text was read through Springlex, which reproduces the Official Journal. This is general information, not legal advice; access rules are changing fast, so confirm with each register before you rely on them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are EU beneficial ownership registers public?

Mostly not. In November 2022 the EU Court of Justice struck down general public access, and most countries restricted their registers. As of October 2026 the UK, Poland, Estonia and Latvia still show beneficial owners publicly, though Poland plans to restrict access from January 2027.

Can journalists access beneficial ownership registers in the EU?

Yes, in principle. Directive (EU) 2024/1640 presumes a legitimate interest for journalists and civil-society organisations working on money laundering, and gives them five years of historical data. Countries had to apply these rules by 10 July 2026, but the application process differs and some countries are late.

Is there one search for companies across the EU?

Yes. The e-Justice portal's business register search (BRIS) queries all EU national company registers. Documents may still be charged by the national register. The older European Business Register network closed on 1 April 2026.

How do I check if a European company is insolvent?

Use the EU Insolvency Registers Interconnection on the e-Justice portal, which covers 21 member states, then check the national register. Denmark, Czechia, Italy and Slovenia are not connected, so use their national sources instead.

Can I find who owns a property in Europe?

It depends on the country. The Netherlands sells ownership information for 3.70 euros, Latvia shows owners for 5 euros, and Denmark shows owners without login. Germany requires a legitimate interest, Estonia blocks search by owner name except for journalists, and Sweden limits searches to five a day and logs them.

Is the UK People with Significant Control register still public?

Yes. The UK is outside the EU ruling, and Companies House shows people with significant control free of charge. The Register of Overseas Entities, which lists non-UK owners of UK property, is also public, though trust details are withheld.

Next step

Start with the company. Search it in our company search or the EU business register search, then check insolvency notices before you pay for any land or ownership record.