Bosnia and Herzegovina company search: bizreg (pravosudje.ba)

TL;DR. Bosnia and Herzegovina has no single federal company registry. https://bizreg.pravosudje.ba answered with a holding page rather than a search screen, and the application behind it did not respond. VSTV (the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council) is not the competent company register. No BAM fee, payment method or turnaround time is published, so fees in this guide read unknown rather than free; confirm at source.

What is the official Bosnia and Herzegovina business registry?

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional structure, established under the Dayton Peace Agreement (1995), divides governing authority between two entities (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska) and one special district (Brcko District). This division extends to company registration: there is no single national business registry.

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH). Companies in FBiH are registered with municipal courts in the canton where the company’s registered office is located. The principal legal basis is the FBiH Law on Registration of Business Entities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are ten cantons in FBiH, each with a municipal court handling registrations. The court-based registration data is described as feeding a state-level court electronic register at bizreg.pravosudje.ba. That host answered with a holding page rather than a search form, and the application behind it did not respond.

Republika Srpska (RS). Companies in Republika Srpska are registered with the Agency for Intermediary, Informatics and Financial Services (APIF), a specialized agency distinct from the court system. Portals historically cited for APIF data (bizreg.osbd.ba, apif.net) are not covered by this guide, and no search screen on them is confirmed here.

Brcko District. The self-governing Brcko District has its own registration system through the Brcko District Basic Court.

VSTV is not competent. VSTV (Visoko sudsko i tuzilacko vijece, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council) is not the company register and is not the search path.

What can you search?

Nothing, at https://bizreg.pravosudje.ba: that host answered with a holding page rather than a name or number search, and the application behind it did not respond. The fields reported for it (company name, registration number, founder name, JIB, address, status) could not be confirmed; confirm at source.

No beneficial ownership fields could be confirmed. Bosnia lacks a complete, operational, publicly searchable UBO registry, a gap MONEYVAL has recorded; confirm at source.

How much does it cost?

No BAM fee figures are published, so the table above reads unknown rather than free; confirm at source. No turnaround time is published either. BAM is pegged to EUR at 1.95583 BAM/EUR, which is a currency fact and not a fee.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Optional. Account and local-ID rules could not be confirmed, because no search screen was reachable. Both public portals have been reported as accessible without an account; confirm at source. Certified extracts still require the issuing court (FBiH) or APIF (RS).

Is the website in English?

Partial. English coverage could not be confirmed, because bizreg answered with a holding page rather than a search screen. bizreg has been reported as operating in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian only; confirm at source.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown. bizreg answered with a holding page, and no certified-extract timing is published; confirm at source.

Is there an API?

No public API is published for the FBiH court portal or for APIF.

What you legally cannot do

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s data protection is governed by the Law on Personal Data Protection (Official Gazette BiH No. 49/06 and 76/11), supervised by the BiH Personal Data Protection Agency (AZLP). Historic portal terms prohibit:

• Automated bulk scraping for commercial redistribution
• Using personal data (director names, addresses) for unsolicited marketing or profiling
• Representing uncertified online extracts as official certified documents in legal proceedings

For standard compliance and KYC due-diligence purposes, fetching individual entity profiles, where an official search exists, is within permitted use. Reference the Global Business Due Diligence Guide for the broader legal framework.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• Three registries, one counterparty. Before concluding a BiH entity is not found, the statutory split still applies: FBiH/Brcko court registers versus APIF for Republika Srpska. No single query searches all three.
• VSTV is not the register. It is not competent for company search.
• bizreg answers with a holding page. There is no search screen behind it, and the application it points to did not respond.
• JIB vs court registration number. The JIB (Jedinstveni identifikacioni broj) is the 13-digit unique identification number used in Republika Srpska. FBiH entities use court-assigned registration numbers. The state-level tax administration (UIO) assigns a separate 13-digit indirect tax/PIB number.
• Beneficial ownership gap. Bosnia lacks a complete, operational, publicly searchable UBO registry, so beneficial ownership declarations come directly from the entity.
• FATF lists. The FATF “Black and grey” lists page and the Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring list of 13 February 2026 both load, and Bosnia and Herzegovina is not named on that monitoring list; confirm at source.

Alternatives if you cannot access BiH registries directly

• Aggregator search (indicative only): OpenCorporates and related indexes may list BiH filings but lag official data. Useful for a quick name check; not for compliance-grade verification.
• Local law firms and corporate service providers in Sarajevo or Banja Luka can retrieve certified extracts when the public portal offers no search.

Local data suppliers

• Bisnode Bosnia and Herzegovina (bisnode.ba). Part of the Dun and Bradstreet network. Provides commercial credit reports for BiH companies drawing on registry data and trade payment information. Primary audience: banks and suppliers extending trade credit to BiH counterparties.

Use the competent court or APIF for the primary legal record where an official search exists. Use a commercial credit bureau or local agent when you need a certified document.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access the BiH registry directly?

Not through a working search. bizreg.pravosudje.ba answered with a holding page, and the application behind it did not respond. VSTV is not the competent register.

What is the primary identifier for a company in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

There is no single national identifier. FBiH entities have a court-assigned registration number. Republika Srpska entities have a JIB. Both entities’ companies have a state-level tax number issued by UIO. Collect both the registration number and the tax number.

What entity types are registered in BiH?

Common types in FBiH include: limited liability company (drustvo s ogranicenom odgovornoscu, d.o.o.), joint-stock company (dionicko drustvo, d.d.), sole proprietor (obrt/preduzetnik), and branches of foreign companies. In Republika Srpska, equivalent types use Serbian terminology: d.o.o. and a.d. (akcionarsko drustvo). Non-profit organizations are registered separately.

Does Bosnia and Herzegovina have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

Not in any operationally complete form. MONEYVAL found the register incomplete, so beneficial ownership declarations from the entity itself are the practical substitute; confirm at source.

How current is the data in BiH registries?

Not stated. The portal publishes no statement of how current its data is.

Is Bosnia and Herzegovina on the FATF grey list?

Bosnia and Herzegovina is not named on the FATF increased-monitoring list of 13 February 2026. FATF updates its lists periodically; confirm at source.

What’s the difference between the registry and financial filings in BiH?

Company registration sits with the cantonal courts (FBiH) or APIF (RS). Annual financial statements are filed separately: FBiH entities with the FBiH Tax Administration; RS entities with APIF.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: bizreg.pravosudje.ba, which answered with a holding page and no search screen; VSTV, which is not the competent register. No BAM fees are published. For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.