Commercial register; application for registration
You can apply for registration in the Commercial Register.
Description
The Commercial Register is a public register in which facts and legal relationships are entered that are of importance to the public in connection with commercial enterprises. Entry in the commercial register creates a special protection of confidence for commercial transactions: third parties may regularly rely on the fact that the entries are correct or that there are no facts requiring entry that are not shown in the register. The Commercial Register thus promotes the security and ease of legal transactions in the interests of business partners and the general public.
The Commercial Register is kept in two sections.
The following are entered in Section A:
- Sole traders,
- partnerships (KG, OHG, European Economic Interest Groupings),
- legal entities whose entry in the Commercial Register must be made with regard to the subject matter or the nature and scope of their business operations (e.g. associations with legal capacity and public-law corporations operating a commercial business).
The following are registered in Section B
- Limited liability companies (GmbH),
- stock corporations (AG),
- partnerships limited by shares (KGaA),
- mutual insurance companies,
- Societas Europaea (SE).
The relevant legal provisions (e.g. Commercial Code, GmbH Act, Stock Corporation Act) specify in detail which facts are subject to registration and which can be registered. In the case of a merchant, registration includes information on the owner, company name, branch office and authorized signatories; in the case of a limited liability company, registration includes information on the registered office, company name, object of the company, managing directors and powers of representation. The dissolution of a company must also be entered in the Commercial Register.
The Commercial Register is kept at the Local Court Register Court. The court responsible for the entries is the court in whose district the merchant's place of business or the company's registered office is located.
Procedure
An entry in the Commercial Register regularly requires an application by the applicant.
To ensure that the entries made in the register are correct and that the person filing the application is also authorized to do so, applications to the commercial register must be submitted electronically in publicly certified form, i.e. certified by a notary public. The notary shall transmit all documents in electronic - and, if necessary, certified - form to the Registry Court by means of remote data transmission.
Submissions in paper form may no longer be accepted by the registry courts since January 1, 2007.
Special notes
Please note that not every local court in Bavaria is entrusted with keeping the commercial register. In Bavaria, the commercial registers are kept at the following local courts:
- Amberg Local Court (for the local court districts of Amberg and Schwandorf)
- Ansbach Local Court (for the local court districts of Ansbach and Weißenburg i. Bay.)
- Aschaffenburg Local Court (for the local court districts of Aschaffenburg and Obernburg a. Main)
- Augsburg Local Court (for the local court districts of Aichach, Augsburg, Dillingen a.d. Donau, Landsberg am Lech and Nördlingen)
- Bamberg Local Court (for the local court districts of Bamberg, Forchheim and Haßfurt)
- Bayreuth Local Court (for the local court districts of Bayreuth and Kulmbach)
- Coburg Local Court (for the local court districts of Coburg, Kronach and Lichtenfels)
- Deggendorf Local Court (for the local court districts of Deggendorf and Viechtach)
- Fürth Local Court (for the local court districts of Erlangen, Fürth and Neustadt a. d. Aisch)
- Hof Local Court (for the local court districts of Hof and Wunsiedel)
- Ingolstadt Local Court (for the local court districts of Ingolstadt, Neuburg a. d. Donau and Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm)
- Kempten/Allgäu Local Court (for the local court districts of Kaufbeuren, Kempten/Allgäu, Lindau/Bodensee and Sonthofen)
- Landshut Local Court (for the local court districts of Eggenfelden, Landau a.d. Isar and Landshut)
- Memmingen Local Court (for the local court districts of Günzburg, Memmingen and Neu-Ulm)
- Munich Local Court (for the local court districts of Dachau, Ebersberg, Erding, Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Miesbach, Starnberg, Weilheim i. OB, Wolfratshausen and Munich)
- Nuremberg District Court (for the districts of Hersbruck, Neumarkt i.d. OPf., Nuremberg and Schwabach)
- Passau Local Court (for the local court districts of Freyung and Passau)
- Regensburg Local Court (for the local court districts of Cham, Kelheim and Regensburg)
- Schweinfurt Local Court (for the local court districts of Bad Kissingen, Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale and Schweinfurt)
- Straubing Local Court (for the Straubing Local Court District)
- Traunstein Local Court (for the local court districts of Altötting, Laufen, Mühldorf am Inn, Rosenheim and Traunstein)
- Weiden i. d. OPf. Local Court (for the local court districts of Tirschenreuth and Weiden i. d. OPf.)
- Würzburg Local Court (for the local court districts of Gemünden a. Main, Kitzingen and Würzburg).
Links to more information
Status:22.06.2023
Responsible for editing:Bayerisches Staatsministerium der Justiz
- Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
- Online transactions, locally limited
- Form, Bavaria-wide
- Form, locally limited
- Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
- Legal bases, locally limited
- Fees, Bavaria-wide
- Fees, locally limited
If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.