The Austrian company register is a central, public register of companies in the Republic of Austria and contains, among other things, important information about the structure, owners and persons acting on behalf of Austrian corporations (GesmbH, AG), partnerships (OG, KG) and co-operatives. Information on foreign legal entities must also be entered in the company register if they operate branches in Austria. Civil law partnerships (GesbR), on the other hand, are not entered in the company register due to their lack of legal personality.
In Austria, the company register is kept by the regional courts (in Vienna by the Vienna Commercial Court, in Graz by the Graz Regional Court for Civil Matters) and serves as a public register for the recording and disclosure of facts that must be entered in accordance with company law regulations in Austria.
The company register consists of the main register (the actual company register), which contains the company register entries, and the collection of documents. This contains a collection of the documents relevant to the company register that form the basis for the company register entries, e.g. the articles of association, annual financial statements or information on the income statement and/or balance sheet.
The following legal entities are entered in the commercial register:
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Sole proprietorships: These can be entered in the company register voluntarily. Only if a sole proprietorship achieves a turnover of more than 700,000 euros in two consecutive financial years or a turnover of more than 1 million euros in one year is there an obligation to register in the commercial register)
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General partnerships
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limited partnerships
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public limited companies
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Companies with limited liability
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European Economic Interest Groupings
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European companies (SE)
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European Cooperative Societies (SCE)
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Other legal entities whose registration is required by law
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Commercial and economic co-operatives
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Mutual insurance companies
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savings banks
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private foundations
Each legal entity is assigned a number in the commercial register, the so-called commercial register number, which can be used to call up company information in the commercial register. It consists of digits and a check letter.
Company register extracts can be retrieved online via so-called clearing centres. As an authorised sub-clearing office, lawvision offers access to the company register in Austria via mart.report or access to the GISA business information system, as well as the option of retrieving extracts from numerous official commercial registers worldwide. Further company data and industry information can also be viewed in mart.report.