# German Handelsregister Company Register Scraper (`bovi/handelsregister-de`) Actor

Search the official German Handelsregister (commercial register) by company name. Returns legal form, register court/number, seat, address, filing dates, representatives, prokuristen/officers, and partners for each matching entry.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bovi/handelsregister-de.md
- **Developed by:** [Vitalii Bondarev](https://apify.com/bovi) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.23 / 1,000 company records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## German Handelsregister Company Register Scraper

Look up any German company on the **official Handelsregister (commercial register)** — handelsregister.de, the government-run register operated for all German local courts (Amtsgerichte) — and get back its legal form, register court and number, registered seat, address, filing dates, and its publicly-registered representatives, prokuristen (holders of commercial power of attorney), and partners. No manual portal lookup, no account needed.

### What it does

- Takes a list of company names (e.g. `["Siemens AG", "BASF SE"]`).
- Searches the register's normal-search form for each name and collects up to `maxResultsPerCompany` matching register entries.
- For each match, optionally opens the official register extract ("Aktueller Abdruck") to pull the full detail: legal form, register court, filing/last-change dates, representatives, prokuristen, and partners.
- Pushes one dataset record per register entry found.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| `companyNames` | array of strings | — (required) | Company names to search, e.g. `"Siemens AG"`. |
| `maxResultsPerCompany` | integer | `5` | Cap on how many register entries to return per company name (1–50). |
| `fetchOfficers` | boolean | `true` | If `true`, opens each entry's register extract to fetch representatives/prokuristen/partners. If `false`, only the search-result row (name, city, register type/number) is returned — faster, thinner records. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify RESIDENTIAL, country DE | Required for reliable access; leave on the default. |

### Output fields

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `search_query` | The company name you searched for. |
| `company_name` | Registered company name. |
| `legal_form` | Legal form (e.g. "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung"). |
| `register_court` | Register court (Amtsgericht) that holds the entry. |
| `register_type` | Register type: HRA, HRB, GnR, PR, or VR. |
| `register_number` | Register number. |
| `register_id` | Combined type + number (e.g. "HRB 12345"). |
| `seat_city` | Registered seat (city). |
| `address` | Business address (Geschäftsanschrift), when the extract was opened. |
| `filing_date` | Date of first entry (Tag der Eintragung). |
| `last_change_date` | Date of the most recent register change. |
| `representatives` | Publicly registered representatives (Vertretungsberechtigte). |
| `prokuristen` | Publicly registered holders of Prokura (commercial power of attorney). |
| `partners` | Registered partners/shareholders (Gesellschafter), where disclosed. |
| `source_note` | Whether the record came from the full register extract or the search row only. |
| `scraped_at` | UTC timestamp of the scrape. |
| `parse_confidence` | `high` (full extract parsed), `medium` (search row only), or `low` (no match). |

### Important — this data includes personal information, by law

The `representatives` and `prokuristen` fields name **natural persons** — the individuals a German company has publicly registered as legally entitled to act on its behalf (managing directors, holders of commercial power of attorney) — and, per standard German commercial-register practice, may also carry that person's city of residence and date of birth. This is not incidental leakage: German commercial law (Handelsgesetzbuch) **requires** every company to publicly disclose who may represent it, and the Handelsregister exists specifically to make that disclosure searchable by anyone, free of an account. It is the same legal category of public officer disclosure as the UK's Companies House officer records (already part of this fleet). This actor only surfaces what German law already mandates be public; it does not access anything gated, private, or authentication-walled.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event (PPE): one charge per company register entry (`company-record`) delivered to the dataset. (No price has been set live yet — see the build report for the proposed figure.)

### Notes on access

handelsregister.de is a stateful government web application (session + view-state based, not a bookmarkable search URL) — the actor drives a real browser through the site's own search flow (home page → search form → results), the same way a person would in their own browser. No CAPTCHA or bot-defense was observed on this portal.

# Actor input Schema

## `companyNames` (type: `array`):

Company names to search in the German Handelsregister (Handelsregister.de). Exact or partial name — the portal matches on keywords (Schlagwörter).

## `maxResultsPerCompany` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of matching register entries to return per searched company name.

## `fetchOfficers` (type: `boolean`):

If true, opens each match's official register extract (Aktueller Abdruck) to also collect representatives, prokuristen/officers, partners, and the full address. If false, only the fast search-result fields (name, legal form, register number, seat) are returned — cheaper and quicker.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy configuration. RESIDENTIAL + country DE is recommended for reliable access to handelsregister.de.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "companyNames": [
    "Siemens AG",
    "BASF SE"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerCompany": 5,
  "fetchOfficers": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "DE"
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing Handelsregister De records (company\_name, legal\_form, register\_court, register\_id, seat\_city, address, filing\_date, last\_change\_date, representatives, prokuristen, partners, parse\_confidence).

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "companyNames": [
        "Siemens AG",
        "BASF SE"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "DE"
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bovi/handelsregister-de").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "companyNames": [
        "Siemens AG",
        "BASF SE",
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
        "apifyProxyCountry": "DE",
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bovi/handelsregister-de").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "companyNames": [
    "Siemens AG",
    "BASF SE"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "DE"
  }
}' |
apify call bovi/handelsregister-de --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bovi/handelsregister-de"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/8ABLw76mhfWklyRQb/builds/4U4BsIKXkuDgVs6dI/openapi.json