ARES Scraper - Czech Republic Company Registry

Extract structured company data from ARES (Administrativni registr ekonomickych subjektu), the Czech Republic's official business register operated by the Ministry of Finance.

Search by company name or look up specific companies by their ICO (identification number). Returns registration details, addresses, VAT numbers, NACE activity codes, and legal forms — all from official government sources.

How to scrape ARES data

1. Go to this actor's page on the Apify Store.
2. Click Try for free to open the actor in Apify Console.
3. Enter a company name (e.g., skoda) or an ICO number (e.g., 00177041).
4. Click Start and wait for the run to finish.
5. Download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Dataset tab.

No login, cookies, or API keys required. The actor calls the official ARES REST API directly.

Input parameters

Field	Type	Required	Description
searchQuery	String	No	Company name to search for (e.g., skoda, ceska posta)
ico	String	No	8-digit ICO number for direct lookup. Comma-separated for multiple.
city	String	No	Filter results by city (e.g., Praha, Brno)
legalForm	String	No	Filter by legal form code (e.g., 112 for s.r.o., 121 for a.s.)
czNace	String	No	Filter by CZ-NACE economic activity code
activeOnly	Boolean	No	Exclude dissolved companies (default: false)
maxResults	Integer	No	Maximum results to return (default: 50, max: 1000)
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Proxy settings (Czech residential recommended)

Either searchQuery or ico must be provided. If neither is set, the actor searches for "prague" as a default.

Output

Each company record contains:

Field	Type	Example
companyName	String	"Skoda Auto a.s."
ico	String	"00177041"
dic	String	"CZ00177041"
legalForm	String	"Akciova spolecnost (a.s.)"
legalFormCode	String	"121"
registrationDate	String	"1990-11-20"
dissolutionDate	String	"" (empty if active)
status	String	"active" or "dissolved"
address	String	"tr. Vaclava Klementa 869, Mlada Boleslav II, 29301 Mlada Boleslav"
street	String	"tr. Vaclava Klementa"
houseNumber	String	"869"
city	String	"Mlada Boleslav"
district	String	"Mlada Boleslav"
region	String	"Stredocesky kraj"
postalCode	String	"29301"
country	String	"Ceska republika"
naceActivities	Array	["29100", "45200", "471"]
primarySource	String	"ros"
financialOffice	String	"013"
lastUpdated	String	"2026-06-05"
url	String	ARES detail page URL
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp

Example output

{
    "companyName": "Skoda Auto a.s.",
    "ico": "00177041",
    "dic": "CZ00177041",
    "legalForm": "Akciova spolecnost (a.s.)",
    "legalFormCode": "121",
    "registrationDate": "1990-11-20",
    "dissolutionDate": "",
    "status": "active",
    "address": "tr. Vaclava Klementa 869, Mlada Boleslav II, 29301 Mlada Boleslav",
    "street": "tr. Vaclava Klementa",
    "houseNumber": "869",
    "city": "Mlada Boleslav",
    "district": "Mlada Boleslav",
    "region": "Stredocesky kraj",
    "postalCode": "29301",
    "country": "Ceska republika",
    "naceActivities": ["29100", "45200", "471", "47740", "69200"],
    "primarySource": "ros",
    "financialOffice": "013",
    "lastUpdated": "2026-06-05",
    "url": "https://ares.gov.cz/ekonomicke-subjekty/00177041",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

What is ARES?

ARES (Administrativni registr ekonomickych subjektu) is the Administrative Register of Economic Entities maintained by the Czech Ministry of Finance. It aggregates data from multiple source registers:

• ROS (Registr osob) - Register of Persons
• VR (Verejne rejstriky) - Public Registers (Commercial Register)
• RES (Registr ekonomickych subjektu) - Register of Economic Entities
• RZP (Registr zivnostenskeho podnikani) - Trade Register
• DPH - VAT Register

The ARES API is publicly available at https://ares.gov.cz and returns JSON responses without authentication.

Tips for effective searching

• Specific queries work best. The ARES API rejects searches that return more than 1,000 total results. If your query is too broad (e.g., just "auto"), narrow it with filters or use a more specific name.
• ICO lookup is fastest. If you know the company's 8-digit ICO number, use the ico field for direct lookup — no search limitations apply.
• Combine filters. Use legalForm to restrict results to specific company types (e.g., 112 for s.r.o. / LLC, 121 for a.s. / joint-stock).
• City filtering is client-side. The city filter is applied after the API returns results, so the underlying search must still return fewer than 1,000 results.
• Czech diacritics are optional. You can search for skoda instead of Skoda — the API handles it.

Cost estimate

This actor uses the official ARES REST API (no browser rendering), making it very lightweight. Approximate costs:

• ~0.001 compute units per company (API-based, no browser overhead)
• 1,000 companies for approximately $0.05 at standard Apify pricing

Limitations

• The ARES API rejects search queries that would return more than 1,000 total results. Use specific names or filters.
• Rate limiting: the Ministry of Finance may throttle requests exceeding 500 queries per minute.
• Data accuracy depends on the source registers maintained by Czech government agencies.
• NACE codes are returned as raw codes without descriptions. See the Czech Statistical Office for code definitions.
• This actor scrapes publicly available data. No login or authentication is required.

Use cases

• Business intelligence: Research Czech companies, competitors, or potential partners
• Due diligence: Verify company registration, legal form, and active status
• Lead generation: Find companies by industry (NACE code) and location
• Market research: Analyze company registrations by region, legal form, or activity
• Compliance: Verify VAT registration numbers (DIC) for Czech trading partners