EU Company Verification (KYB): VIES VAT, LEI, SIREN

Verify a European company in one call. Give it a company name, a national registration number, an EU VAT number or an LEI. You get back one clean record with a verdict (verified / review / inactive / not_found) and the reasons behind it. The record combines:

Also known as: KYB API, company verification API, business verification, VAT number checker / VIES VAT validation, LEI lookup (GLEIF), SIREN check, company registry lookup, know-your-business (KYB) checks for supplier onboarding. 🇫🇷 vérification d'entreprise, numéro de TVA intracommunautaire, contrôle SIREN · 🇩🇪 Firmenprüfung, USt-IdNr. prüfen.

• the official business register (France 🇫🇷, Norway 🇳🇴, Finland 🇫🇮, Czechia 🇨🇿), with legal name, status, legal form, address, activity code, creation and cessation dates;
• a live EU VAT check in VIES (all 27 EU countries + Northern Ireland), with the VAT number derived automatically from the registration number where possible;
• the LEI from GLEIF (worldwide, CC0);
• insolvency / liquidation signals (France: BODACC collective proceedings; Finland: PRH bankruptcy/restructuring/liquidation situations; Czechia: ARES insolvency register flag).

Every result cites its sources and their licences. Only official, free, open public-sector APIs are used: no scraping, no logins, no third-party data brokers.

Use cases: supplier and customer onboarding (KYB), B2B checkout VAT checks, invoice and reverse-charge compliance, CRM and ERP data cleaning, lead qualification, and fraud checks ("does this company really exist and is it still active?"). It also works as a tool for AI agents (see Use it from AI agents (MCP)).

Why this Actor

	This Actor	Typical single-source Actor
Registry + VAT + LEI + insolvency in one row	✅	❌ one source per Actor
Clear verdict + machine-readable reasons	✅	❌ raw data only
Accepts names, IDs, VAT numbers and LEIs mixed in one list	✅	❌
Checksum validation (SIREN/SIRET, org.nr, Y-tunnus, IČO, LEI) before any call	✅	rarely
Pay only for companies found: not-found and invalid inputs are free	✅	usually billed per row
Sole proprietors (natural persons) excluded from name searches by default	✅	❌

Input

Paste one query per line in Companies. Each line can be:

Example	Interpreted as
Doctolib	company name, searched in the default country register
NO: Equinor	company name in Norway (prefix CC: picks the country)
552 120 222 / 55212022200013	French SIREN / SIRET
FI: 0112038-9, NO: 923609016, CZ: 27082440	Finnish Y-tunnus, Norwegian org.nr, Czech IČO
FR40303265045, DE811569869, IE6388047V	EU VAT number (any EU country + XI)
969500BPSLCSC039UV67	LEI
ES: Inditex	name in a country without a register adapter → searched in GLEIF

{
  "companies": ["Doctolib", "FR40303265045", "NO: Equinor", "FI: 0112038-9", "CZ27082440"],
  "defaultCountry": "FR",
  "maxCandidatesPerQuery": 1,
  "checkVat": true,
  "checkLei": true,
  "checkInsolvency": true,
  "excludeSoleProprietors": true,
  "minNameScore": "0.5"
}

Options: maxCandidatesPerQuery (1–25, for name searches), minNameScore (0–1), includeRaw (attach the untouched source responses), concurrency (1–10). Up to 5,000 queries per run.

Output

One dataset row per company (or per candidate for name searches with maxCandidatesPerQuery > 1). The Overview table view shows the flat fields. Each row also carries nested company, vat, leiRecord, insolvency and sources objects.

Field	Meaning
verdict	verified, review, inactive, not_found, invalid_input or error
reasons	why, e.g. registry_status_active, vat_valid_in_vies, lei_issued, name_match_1, weak_name_match_0.62, vat_number_not_valid_in_vies, insolvency_or_liquidation_flag, registry_status_ceased
warnings	non-blocking notes (e.g. VIES temporarily unavailable, Norway not in VIES)
legalName, country, registrationNumber, registrationNumberType	identity
registryStatus	active, ceased or unknown
vatNumber, vatValid	VAT number and live VIES result (null = could not be checked)
lei, insolvencyFlag, matchScore, inputIndex, checkedAt

Verdict logic. inactive means the register says the company has ceased. review means something needs a human: VAT invalid, an insolvency/liquidation notice in the last 3 years, a name match below 0.85, a lapsed LEI, or a status that could not be confirmed. verified means the company is active in the register (or has a valid VAT number in VIES where no register is covered), with no red flag.

Sample output (real local runs, 18 Oct 2026)

Query	Verdict	Legal name	Reg. no.	VAT (VIES)	LEI	Notes
Doctolib	verified	DOCTOLIB	794598813	FR14794598813 ✅	969500BPSLCSC039UV67	name match 1.0
FR40303265045	verified	SODIMAS	303265045	✅	969500GZTMR1IRVURM23
552 120 222	verified	SOCIETE GENERALE	552120222	FR27552120222 ✅	O2RNE8IBXP4R0TD8PU41
440471100	inactive	LB	440471100	FR63440471100 ❌	–	ceased + BODACC liquidation
Blablacar	verified	COMUTO	491904546	FR76491904546 ✅	969500XQAR03ZTKPUC93	brand → legal entity
NO: Equinor	verified	EQUINOR ASA	923609016	n/a (not in VIES)	OW6OFBNCKXC4US5C7523
FI: Nokia	verified	Nokia Oyj	0112038-9	FI01120389 ✅	549300A0JPRWG1KI7U06
CZ: Alza	verified	Alza.cz a.s.	27082440	CZ27082440 ✅	315700MJRNJSVB95U852
IE6388047V	verified	GOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED	–	✅	YYPPRNO5HB304LHFVG31	VIES + GLEIF
DE: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft	verified	Siemens Aktiengesellschaft	HRB 6684	–	W38RGI023J3WT1HWRP32	via GLEIF
ES: Inditex	review	INDUSTRIA DE DISEÑO TEXTIL, S.A. (INDITEX, S.A.)	–	–	9598004YCFER8AFHFN23	GLEIF status unconfirmed
NO: 123456789	invalid_input (free)					bad checksum
zzqx nonexistent company 4821	not_found (free)

One full row (CZ27082440), shortened:

{
  "query": "CZ27082440", "queryType": "vat", "verdict": "verified",
  "reasons": ["registry_status_active", "vat_valid_in_vies", "lei_issued"],
  "legalName": "Alza.cz a.s.", "country": "CZ", "registrationNumber": "27082440", "registrationNumberType": "ICO",
  "registryStatus": "active", "vatNumber": "CZ27082440", "vatValid": true, "lei": "315700MJRNJSVB95U852", "insolvencyFlag": false,
  "company": { "legalForm": "Akciová společnost (a.s.)", "registrationDate": "2003-08-26",
               "address": { "line": "Jankovcova 1522/53, Holešovice, 17000 Praha 7", "city": "Praha", "country": "CZ" },
               "activity": { "code": "532", "scheme": "CZ-NACE" }, "isSoleProprietor": false, "registryVatRegistered": true },
  "vat": { "valid": true, "name": "Alza.cz a.s.", "address": "Jankovcova 1522/53, PRAHA 7 - HOLEŠOVICE, 170 00  PRAHA 7" },
  "leiRecord": { "entityStatus": "ACTIVE", "registrationStatus": "ISSUED", "corroborationLevel": "FULLY_CORROBORATED" },
  "insolvency": { "flag": false, "details": [] },
  "sources": [ { "name": "ARES …" }, { "name": "VIES …" }, { "name": "GLEIF LEI API", "license": "CC0 1.0" } ]
}

Timing in those runs: about 1.5 s per company with all checks on. France takes longer when VIES is busy, because the Actor retries automatically.

Pricing (pay per event)

• $0.005 per company check delivered ($5 per 1,000), charged only for rows with verdict verified, review or inactive.
• not_found, invalid_input and error rows are free.
• No subscription. Apify platform usage is included. Set a maximum cost per run in the run options: the Actor stops cleanly when that budget is reached.

Use it from AI agents (MCP)

Every public Apify Actor is automatically available as a tool on the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com). Add the Actor in Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client:

{ "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ostrata/eu-company-check" } } }

Then ask: "Check whether FR40303265045 and NO: Equinor are active companies with valid VAT numbers." The input is a plain list of strings and the output carries a verdict and reasons, so agents can act on it directly. You can also call it over the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or with the apify-client libraries. (Replace ostrata with the publishing account's username if different.)

Data sources & licences

Source	Coverage	Licence
API Recherche d'entreprises (INSEE Sirene + RNE, DINUM)	FR register	Licence Ouverte 2.0
BODACC via DILA open data	FR collective proceedings	Licence Ouverte 2.0
Brønnøysundregistrene – Enhetsregisteret	NO register	NLOD 2.0
PRH – YTJ open data API v3	FI register	CC BY 4.0
ARES (Ministry of Finance CZ)	CZ register	public open data
VIES (European Commission)	EU VAT validity	public EU service
GLEIF API	LEI worldwide, name search elsewhere	CC0 1.0

The Actor respects each API's published rate limits, using per-host throttling, Retry-After handling and exponential backoff.

Limitations

• Register adapters exist for FR, NO, FI and CZ. In other countries, names are looked up in GLEIF, so this covers only companies that have an LEI, and VAT numbers are checked in VIES. UK, DE, NL and others are planned.
• Some countries (e.g. Germany, Spain) never return the name or address in VIES. You then get vatValid but legalName: null.
• VIES is sometimes unavailable for a member state. The Actor retries and, if it still fails, returns vatValid: null with a warning instead of a false negative.
• Finnish register status codes are not formally documented. The mapping used (1 = registered, 4 = ceased) is based on observed data.
• Results reflect the sources at query time. This is a data tool, not legal advice.

Privacy

The Actor queries company registers only. By default it excludes sole proprietors (natural persons) from name searches. It does not return directors, shareholders or any personal contact data. Your input list is processed in your own Apify run and is not stored by the author.

Related Actors

• Website to Company (Impressum & Mentions Légales): find the legal entity behind a website (SIREN/VAT from the legal notice) and verify it.
• France Company List (SIRENE): build lists of French companies by NAF code, area, headcount and revenue from the official register.
• Greenhouse, Lever & Ashby Jobs API: normalized job postings from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, SmartRecruiters and Recruitee boards, with only-new-jobs mode.
• AI Brand Visibility Tracker: check whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini mention and cite your brand, with position, competitors and share of voice (your own API keys).

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🇫🇷 En bref

Vérifiez une entreprise européenne en un appel : nom, SIREN/SIRET, numéro de TVA intracommunautaire ou LEI → une fiche unique avec un verdict (verified / review / inactive / not_found). La fiche combine le registre officiel (France via l'API Recherche d'entreprises, Norvège, Finlande, Tchéquie), le contrôle TVA en direct dans VIES (avec calcul automatique de la TVA depuis le SIREN), le LEI GLEIF et les procédures collectives BODACC.

0,005 $ par entreprise trouvée. Les recherches sans résultat et les saisies invalides sont gratuites. Uniquement des sources publiques officielles (Licence Ouverte 2.0, NLOD, CC BY, CC0), sans scraping. Les entrepreneurs individuels sont exclus des recherches par nom par défaut. Utilisable comme outil MCP par les agents IA via mcp.apify.com.

Publié par Sublime Traders SAS (Ostrata), France.