# Official Company Registry Search (multi-country) (`groundtruth/company-registry-search`) Actor

Search official government company registers in one query: Norway, France and the global LEI register. Official open-licensed data, every record links to the register entry.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/groundtruth/company-registry-search.md
- **Developed by:** [Ground Truth](https://apify.com/groundtruth) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, MCP servers, Agents
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 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.

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

## Official Company Registry Search (multi-country)

Search seven official government company registers in one query and get back one
consistent set of fields, whichever country the company is in. **Every record
links to the official register entry it came from**, so any value can be
checked at the source in one click.

Currently covers:

| Register | Coverage | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| **Companies House** | United Kingdom | UK registrar of companies |
| **GLEIF** | Worldwide | Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation |
| **Brønnøysund** | Norway | Norwegian government register of legal entities |
| **INSEE Sirene** | France | French national business register |
| **PRH / YTJ** | Finland | Finnish Patent and Registration Office |
| **ARES** | Czechia | Czech Ministry of Finance |
| **RPO** | Slovakia | Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic |

### What this answers that the official sources cannot

Each national register can only answer about its own country, and each returns
a different shape of data in a different language. There is no official
endpoint anywhere that answers "find every company called Equinor, in any
country, with one query and one schema". That question is structurally
impossible for any single register, which is exactly why this tool exists
rather than rebuilding a government website.

Concretely, it is useful when you need to:

- Check whether a supplier or counterparty exists, and is still active, across
  several countries at once
- Match a company to its global LEI so records from different systems line up
- Pull a country's register into a spreadsheet without writing three different
  API clients

### Output

One record per company, identical fields from every register:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `legal_name` | Registered legal name |
| `company_number` | Official number: organisation number, SIREN, or LEI |
| `source`, `source_country` | Which register this came from |
| `status` | active, inactive, dissolved, or unknown |
| `legal_form` | Registered legal form code |
| `incorporated_date`, `dissolved_date` | ISO dates |
| `address_city`, `address_postcode`, `address_country` | Registered address, at city level |
| `activity_code`, `activity_text` | Industry classification |
| `employees_band` | Employee count or band, as the register reports it |
| `lei` | Global LEI, where the register provides one |
| `previous_names` | Former registered names |
| `last_updated` | When the register last changed the record |
| `verify_url` | Link to the official register entry |

Statuses are normalised to four values. Registers use dozens of local status
words between them, and someone comparing three countries needs three buckets,
not forty untranslated ones.

### Worked example

Input `{"query": "Equinor", "limit": 50}` returns records like:

```json
{
 "legal_name": "EQUINOR ASA",
 "company_number": "923609016",
 "source": "brreg",
 "source_country": "NO",
 "status": "active",
 "legal_form": "ASA",
 "incorporated_date": "1995-03-12",
 "address_city": "STAVANGER",
 "address_postcode": "4035",
 "activity_code": "06.100",
 "activity_text": "Utvinning av råolje",
 "previous_names": ["Den norske stats oljeselskap a.s", "STATOIL ASA", "STATOILHYDRO ASA"],
 "verify_url": "https://virksomhet.brreg.no/nb/oppslag/enheter/923609016"
}
```

Open the `verify_url` and the Norwegian register shows the same name, form and
address. You never have to take this tool's word for anything.

### Input

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `query` | Company name to search for. Required. |
| `countries` | Which registers to search. `GB` (or `UK`), `NO`, `FR`, `FI`, `CZ`, `SK`, or `GLOBAL` for GLEIF. Leave empty for all of them. |
| `limit` | Total companies to return, shared across the selected registers. 1 to 2000. |
| `companies_house_key` | Optional. Your own free Companies House key, if you want the UK register searched under your own allowance. |

#### When you need your own Companies House key

You don't, for normal use. The UK register works out of the box.

Companies House allows **600 requests every 5 minutes per key**, counted per
key rather than per user. The built-in key is shared by everyone using this
Actor, so if you are pulling UK data heavily you may hit that ceiling because
of other people's runs, and they because of yours.

A key is free from
[developer.company-information.service.gov.uk](https://developer.company-information.service.gov.uk).
Supply it in `companies_house_key` and the UK searches run on your own
allowance, under your own registration. It is stored encrypted by Apify and
never appears in run logs.

### Licensing and attribution

All data comes from official APIs published under open licences that permit
commercial re-use:

- GLEIF data is licensed under **CC0 1.0 Universal**
- Norwegian data contains information from the **Brønnøysund Register Centre**,
  licensed under **NLOD 2.0**
- French data comes from **INSEE Sirene**, licensed under **Licence Ouverte 2.0**
- UK data contains public sector information from **Companies House**,
  licensed under the **Open Government Licence v3.0**
- Finnish data comes from the **Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH)**
  and the Finnish Tax Administration, licensed under **CC BY 4.0**
- Czech data comes from **ARES**, Czech Ministry of Finance, published as open
  data under **CC0**
- Slovak data comes from the **Register of Legal Persons**, Statistical Office
  of the Slovak Republic, licensed under **CC BY 4.0**

Each run writes the required attribution to its log.

### What it does not collect

**No personal data.** The French register returns company directors' names and
dates of birth, and the Norwegian register returns telephone numbers. None of
it is collected. This tool describes companies, not the people behind them.

Slovakia needed more than restraint. Its register merges the commercial
register with the trade licensing register, and the second is almost entirely
sole traders: a search for a common surname comes back four-fifths private
individuals, at their home addresses. Only the commercial register is
searched, and because Slovak law also allows a natural person to be entered
*in* the commercial register, every Slovak record is checked against its legal
form before it is returned. Individuals are dropped. You will only ever see
companies.

### Reliability

If a register changes the shape of its response, the run fails with a message
naming which register and why. It will not return an empty result that looks
like "no such company". Values are checked against each register's own detail
endpoint, and French records are cross-checked against GLEIF, which is a
separate authority. Slovak records are cross-checked against the Ministry of
Justice's commercial register, which is a different institution from the
Statistical Office that publishes the data.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

The company name to search for. Searched across every selected register. Defaults to 'energy' so the Actor has a working example run.

## `countries` (type: `array`):

Leave empty to search all of them. GB for the UK, NO Norway, FR France, FI Finland, CZ Czechia, SK Slovakia, or GLOBAL for the worldwide LEI register.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Total companies to return, shared across the selected registers. You are charged per company returned.

## `companies_house_key` (type: `string`):

Only needed if you want the UK register searched under your own allowance. Companies House permits 600 requests every 5 minutes per key, so a heavy user should bring their own rather than share. Free from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk. Leave empty to use the built-in key.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "Equinor",
  "countries": [
    "GB",
    "FI",
    "CZ",
    "SK"
  ],
  "limit": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `companies` (type: `string`):

No description

## `companiesCsv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runDetails` (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 = {
    "query": "energy",
    "limit": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("groundtruth/company-registry-search").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 = {
    "query": "energy",
    "limit": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("groundtruth/company-registry-search").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 '{
  "query": "energy",
  "limit": 50
}' |
apify call groundtruth/company-registry-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/GSj0zqL418yIv1s2C/builds/oSVpPgootIYLh0JDN/openapi.json