# EU VAT Number Checker (VIES) + LEI Lookup (GLEIF) (`dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify`) Actor

Check an EU VAT number in VIES and find the company's LEI and parent companies in GLEIF, in one call. Also accepts an LEI or a company name.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify.md
- **Developed by:** [Data and Beyond](https://apify.com/dataandbeyond) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 company verifieds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## EU VAT Number Checker (VIES) + LEI Lookup (GLEIF)

Check EU VAT numbers in VIES and find the matching LEI and parent companies in GLEIF in one call. Useful for KYB checks, invoice processing and cleaning supplier lists.

### Example input

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "DK24256790",
    "Novo Nordisk"
  ]
}
```

### How it works

- A VAT number (with or without country prefix) is checked in VIES. The Actor then looks for an LEI registered with the same number in GLEIF.
- An LEI is first checked against its ISO 17442 check digits. An LEI with wrong check digits gets `INVALID_LEI` without any lookup and is not charged. A valid one is looked up directly in GLEIF.
- A company name is matched against GLEIF legal names. Active, issued LEIs come first, then the closest name. The verdict is `LEI_MATCH_BY_NAME`, because a name match is never certain. Other candidates are in `otherLeiMatches`.

### Output

One JSON record per result with: `query`, `inputType`, `vat`, `lei`, `directParent`, `ultimateParent`, `otherLeiMatches`, `verdict`, `checkedAt`, `sources`.

### Limitations

- A valid VIES result only means the number is active in VIES right now. It is not KYC.
- VIES is slow (often several seconds per number), and member-state services are sometimes down. Temporary VIES errors (timeouts, 5xx, MS_UNAVAILABLE) are retried up to 4 times with backoff of 1, 2 and 4 s. If VIES is still unavailable, the record shows `vat.checked: false` with the reason, so you can retry it later.
- Many small companies have no LEI, so the GLEIF part will often be empty for them.
- On Apify's free plan, start one run at a time. Several runs started at once can be refused with HTTP 402 (memory limit for concurrent runs).

### Invalid input

Text fields or list items that contain only spaces stop the run with a clear error before any external API is called. Nothing is charged.

### No results

A query with no hits gives one row: `{"query": ..., "status": "NOT_FOUND", "message": "No results for ..."}`. It is not charged.

### When something goes wrong

If the upstream API is down, times out or rejects the request, the run fails with a status message that says which API failed and why. You won't get an empty "success" that looks like "no results".

### Price

$0.004 per company with a result (no charge for NOT_FOUND). No start fee. Apify's free plan includes a small monthly credit, so testing costs next to nothing.

### Using it from an MCP client

Apify's MCP server exposes it as a tool. You need an Apify account and API token (the free plan is enough to try it):

```json
{ "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>" } } } }
```

Or call it over HTTP and get the rows back directly:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dataandbeyond~eu-company-verify/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"queries": ["DK24256790", "Novo Nordisk"]}'
```

### Source and license

EU VIES (European Commission) and GLEIF (CC0 1.0). Each record has a `source` field. Follow the source license if you redistribute the data.

### Contact

Mark, Data and Beyond ApS (Denmark). Open an issue on the Actor page if something is wrong or missing.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

VAT numbers (e.g. DK10150817, DE811115368), LEI codes, or company names.

## `defaultCountry` (type: `string`):

Two-letter EU code used when a VAT number has no country prefix (e.g. DK).

## `includeParents` (type: `boolean`):

Look up direct and ultimate parent in GLEIF (Level 2).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Max items.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "DK24256790",
    "Novo Nordisk"
  ],
  "includeParents": true,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "DK24256790",
        "Novo Nordisk"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify").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 = { "queries": [
        "DK24256790",
        "Novo Nordisk",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "DK24256790",
    "Novo Nordisk"
  ]
}' |
apify call dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dataandbeyond/eu-company-verify"
        }
    }
}
```

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/hSqsbhkgKcrJ3pOYq/builds/mTEIdnrQg9iR0ijKu/openapi.json