What Is BRIS and Why Does It Exist
The Business Registers Interconnection System was established under EU Directive 2012/17/EU and went live in 2017. Its core purpose is to allow company information to flow across borders without anyone having to navigate 27 separate national portals in 24 official languages. BRIS is the technical backbone; the public-facing interface is the European e-Justice Portal at e-justice.europa.eu/content/find-a-company.
Before BRIS, checking whether a company was legitimately incorporated in, say, Slovakia or Bulgaria required knowing the local language, finding the right national portal, and often paying for an extract. BRIS standardises the entry point while keeping the underlying data in each country's own registry.
Countries Connected and What They Contribute
All 27 EU member states feed data into BRIS, but participation quality differs:
| Country | National Register | BRIS Data Depth |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Handelsregister | Name, address, status, links to documents |
| France | RCS (Registre du Commerce) | Name, SIREN number, activity code, status |
| Netherlands | KVK Handelsregister | Name, KVK number, SBI codes, address |
| Poland | KRS (Krajowy Rejestr Sadowy) | Name, KRS number, legal form |
| Romania | ONRC | Name, CUI number, registration date |
| Bulgaria | BRRA | Name, UIC, status |
The three EEA non-EU countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) are also connected. The UK was removed from BRIS after January 2021.
How to Search BRIS: Step by Step
- Go to e-justice.europa.eu and choose "Find a company" from the top navigation.
- Select the country you want to search. You cannot search all countries simultaneously — BRIS queries one national registry at a time.
- Enter the company name (partial names work) or the registration number if you have it.
- Review the results list. Click a result to see the standardised European company data set (ECDS): name, registration number, legal form, registered address, and status (active/dissolved).
- Follow the "National register" link at the bottom of the company card to go directly to the source country's registry for full documents.
For broad due diligence, you must repeat steps 2–5 for each country of interest. There is no single EU-wide full-text search.
What Information BRIS Shows
The European Company Data Set (ECDS) returned for each company includes:
- Legal name and any trading name if registered
- Registration number as assigned by the national authority
- Legal form (GmbH, SAS, BV, SP. z o.o., etc.)
- Registered office address
- Status: active, dissolved, in liquidation, or merged
- Activity (NACE code where provided by national registry)
What BRIS does not show: beneficial ownership, financial statements, lists of directors, or share capital — unless the national registry exposes those through the linked deep page.
Real Limitations to Know
Name coverage gaps. Some countries, particularly smaller registries, update BRIS with a delay. A company registered last week in Malta or Cyprus may not appear for several days.
No cross-country name search. You cannot ask "does the name Alphacode GmbH exist anywhere in the EU?" You must pick a country first. Founders wanting to check name availability across multiple jurisdictions need to run separate queries for each country.
Distinctness rules vary. Germany's Handelsregister requires a name to be clearly distinguishable from existing entries in the same commercial court district. France applies a nationwide distinctness check through INPI. BRIS does not model these rules — it only surfaces what is already registered.
Trademark blind spot. BRIS is a company register, not a trademark database. A name clean in BRIS might still infringe a registered EU trademark or a national trademark. Always cross-check with EUIPO eTMview.
When to Use National Registries Directly
Go straight to the national registry when:
- You need certified extracts or notarised documents for a contract or bank account opening.
- You are checking name availability before registration — the national portal will apply actual distinctness rules.
- You need financial statements or director information (available via Germany's Bundesanzeiger, France's BODACC, or Ireland's CRO).
- You need real-time data on a recently dissolved or restructured company.
Key portals: Germany (handelsregister.de), France (annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr), Italy (registroimprese.it), Spain (registradores.org), Netherlands (kvk.nl), Poland (rejestr.io or krs.ms.gov.pl).
Practical Due Diligence Tips for Founders
Cross-reference with EUIPO. Run both a BRIS company search and a trademark search on eTMview before settling on any name. A conflicting trademark is far more dangerous than a conflicting company name because it operates across the entire EU rather than one jurisdiction.
Check the national gazette. Many EU countries require companies to publish notices in an official gazette (Germany's Bundesanzeiger, France's BODACC). These sometimes surface information — winding-up notices, court judgments — not reflected in BRIS.
Request a certified extract. For high-stakes due diligence (acquisitions, large contracts), a certified extract from the national registry carries legal weight; a BRIS printout does not.
Date-stamp your checks. Business status changes quickly. Document when you ran each BRIS query so you have an audit trail if a dispute arises later.
The EU Business Registers Interconnection System is the right first stop for cross-border company research, but it is one layer of a complete check. For a fast name availability sweep before you register, use the EU Biz Tools Business Name Checker — it queries national registers and flags conflicts so you can move to registration with confidence.