France Company Search Guide 2026: How to Verify a French Business

TL;DR. France has three main systems for company verification: Infogreffe for official commercial court extracts (Kbis), INSEE Sirene for the statistical register of all legal entities, and the RNE (Registre National des Entreprises) for a unified view. Basic SIREN/SIRET lookups are free. The Kbis extract, which is the definitive document for counterparty due diligence, costs EUR 3.70 (approximately USD 4.00) per document. Foreign buyers can access all three systems without a French identity document.

What is the official France business registry?

France’s commercial register system is operated by the commercial courts (Tribunaux de Commerce) through their registrars (Greffes). The practical access point for foreign compliance buyers is Infogreffe (infogreffe.fr), the shared information system operated as a Groupement d’Interet Economique (GIE) by the Greffes des Tribunaux de Commerce. Infogreffe is the source of the Extrait Kbis, the official certified extract of a company’s commercial court registration. The Kbis is the definitive document that French counterparties, banks, and notaries treat as proof of legal existence.

Three registries serve distinct purposes:

• Infogreffe / Registre du Commerce et des Societes (RCS): the commercial court register for companies whose activity is commercial. All Societes Anonymes (SA), Societes a Responsabilite Limitee (SARL), Societes par Actions Simplifiees (SAS/SASU), and similar commercial forms are registered here. The RCS registration number is the identifier used in commercial law.

• INSEE Sirene: maintained by the Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, Sirene assigns a SIREN number (9 digits, identifies the legal entity) and SIRET numbers (14 digits: SIREN + 5-digit establishment code, identifies each physical establishment). All French legal entities, including associations, public bodies, and sole traders, have a SIREN. The Sirene database is publicly available and free to query.

• RNE (Registre National des Entreprises): launched by INPI (Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle) in January 2023, the RNE is a unified national register that consolidates commercial, craft, and agricultural registrations. It replaced the former Repertoire des Metiers (craft register) and is now the entry point for new registrations. The data portal is at data.inpi.fr.

For compliance and due diligence purposes, the Kbis from Infogreffe is the primary document. Sirene SIREN/SIRET lookups are the fastest way to verify an entity’s legal existence and basic details at no cost.

What can you search?

INSEE Sirene (free, no account):

• Search by SIREN, SIRET, or company name
• Partial name matching is supported
• Returns: SIREN/SIRET numbers, legal name, trade name (if different), registered address, legal form (categorie juridique), date of registration, APE code (activity sector code from the NAF/APE classification), current activity status (active, ceased), and employer or non-employer status
• Historical addresses and name changes are available
• Bulk dataset download (all French entities, approximately 30 million SIRENs) is available free as open data

Infogreffe / RCS (free search, paid documents):

• Search by SIREN, company name, or manager name
• Returns in free search: company name, SIREN, registered court, current status, basic filing history
• Paid Kbis extract contains: legal name, trade name, SIREN/RCS number, registered court, registered address, legal form, purpose clause (objet social), share capital, date of incorporation, identity of company officers (gerants, presidents, directeurs generaux), statutory auditors (commissaires aux comptes), and any court orders or insolvency proceedings
• Actes (filed documents including articles of incorporation, statutes, minutes of extraordinary general meetings) are available as separate paid downloads

RNE via INPI (free):

• Search by SIREN, company name, or manager name
• Covers commercial, craft, and agricultural registrations in a single interface
• Data is more current than Infogreffe for recently formed entities as the RNE is the primary registration point since January 2023

BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, free):

• The official gazette for civil and commercial announcements at bodacc.fr
• Contains insolvency proceedings, court-ordered liquidations, asset sales, and collective procedures
• Free full-text search and API access; data released under the etalab-2.0 open license

How much does it cost?

EUR/USD conversion used: 1.09 (approximate, May 2026; verify at point of purchase). Payment on Infogreffe accepts credit card and PayPal. No French bank account is required. Documents are delivered as PDF immediately after payment.

The free Sirene data is sufficient for initial screening. The Kbis is required when a counterparty demands official proof of company status, or when you need the complete officer list and purpose clause in a certified format.

Do you need a local account or ID?

No. The Infogreffe portal, INSEE Sirene, and RNE are all accessible without account creation and without a French identity document.

Creating an optional Infogreffe account allows you to maintain a document purchase history and set up monitoring alerts for changes to specific companies. Account creation requires an email address and billing details. No French SIRET, tax number, or address is required from foreign users.

The Sirene database is open data. The full bulk dataset is downloadable without registration from the INSEE open data portal.

The RNE via INPI data portal is open access. Some INPI services for intellectual property filings require an account, but the company register search does not.

Is the website in English?

No. Infogreffe, the INSEE Sirene portal, and the RNE data portal are French only. There is no English interface option on any of the primary sources.

The Kbis document itself is in French. Purpose clauses and officer titles use French legal terminology (gerant, president, directeur general, commissaire aux comptes, etc.).

France participates in the EU Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS), which means basic company name and status data for French companies is accessible in English via the BRIS cross-border portal. This provides a free English-language initial check but does not deliver the full Kbis extract.

Foreign compliance buyers who do not read French can extract the key fields from a Kbis document with a translation tool. The document format is standardised and predictable. The fields for legal name, SIREN, registered address, legal form, share capital, and officer names are clearly labelled.

What’s the turnaround time?

PDF documents from Infogreffe are delivered instantly after payment. The system generates the certified extract immediately and the download is available in the browser within seconds.

The Kbis reflects the state of the commercial court register at the time it is generated. Changes to company officers, registered address, or other registered details must be filed with the relevant commercial court and may take 1-3 business days to appear in the register after acceptance.

INSEE Sirene data is updated daily. Changes submitted by companies to the commercial courts or INSEE directly appear in the Sirene database within 24-72 hours.

RNE data via INPI is also updated daily, often faster than the legacy Infogreffe system for newly formed companies since January 2023, as the RNE is the primary registration point.

Is there an API?

Yes, for INSEE Sirene. The INSEE provides a free REST API for the Sirene database, documented at api.insee.fr. The API returns all Sirene fields by SIREN or SIRET in JSON format. An API key is required but freely available upon registration at the INSEE developer portal. Rate limits apply to free tier access; higher rate tiers are available for bulk use cases.

BODACC provides open data via API at bodacc.fr under the etalab-2.0 open license. The API covers all civil and commercial announcements including insolvency proceedings.

Infogreffe does not offer a public API for Kbis document retrieval. For programmatic access to certified French company data at scale, local data suppliers (see section below) are the standard route, as they package Infogreffe and Sirene data with additional enrichment and deliver via API.

What you legally cannot do

Infogreffe data and certified extracts are subject to the following restrictions:

• Redistribution of certified Kbis extracts as stand-alone documents outside their original context is not permitted. The Kbis carries a timestamp and issuing registrar’s certification; redistributing it as if freshly issued misrepresents the document’s status.
• Automated bulk querying of the Infogreffe portal is prohibited under its terms of use. The portal is designed for individual document requests, not systematic database harvesting.
• Misrepresenting data origin. Any commercial service using French registry data must clearly indicate the source and the date of the data extraction. Presenting Infogreffe data as independently obtained is not permitted.

INSEE Sirene open data is released under the etalab-2.0 open data licence, which permits commercial reuse provided the source (INSEE Sirene) is credited and the data is not presented as modified official data.

BODACC announcements are public record under the same etalab-2.0 terms. Commercial reuse is permitted with attribution.

Under GDPR and French RGPD implementation, officer and director names appearing in company records are personal data. Processing this data for compliance (AML, KYC, CDD) purposes is within the legitimate interest grounds, provided purpose is documented.

France is a FATF member. Its 2022 Mutual Evaluation rated the French AML framework as broadly effective. For current FATF status, see fatf-gafi.org.

Practical tips for foreign users

• SIREN is the primary identifier. The 9-digit SIREN number is stable across name changes, address changes, and legal form conversions. Always record it when starting a due diligence file. The SIRET adds the 5-digit establishment code; for a single-site company, the SIRET suffix is typically “00001” for the head office.
• SAS vs. SARL vs. SA structures differ in key ways. A Societe par Actions Simplifiee (SAS or its single-shareholder variant SASU) has highly flexible governance defined by its statuts. A SARL has a more rigid statutory framework. An SA must have a minimum share capital of EUR 37,000 and is subject to more onerous reporting requirements. The legal form on the Kbis determines what governance documents you need to request.
• President and Directeur General are different roles. In a French SAS, the president is the statutory representative. A directeur general (DG) can be appointed separately with delegated powers. Both can bind the company in third-party contracts. The Kbis lists all company officers with their titles.
• Objet social matters. The purpose clause (objet social) in a French company’s statuts limits the company’s permitted activities. An act outside the objet social can be challenged. For high-value transactions, check that the purpose clause covers the activity you are contracting for.
• BODACC is the first check for insolvency. Before any payment or credit decision, search BODACC for the company’s SIREN. Insolvency proceedings (sauvegarde, redressement judiciaire, liquidation judiciaire) must be published in BODACC within days of the court order. This search is free and instant.
• Check for recent officer changes. The date of the last amendment (date de derniere mise a jour) on the Kbis indicates when the record was last changed. A Kbis that has not been updated in several years may have outdated officer information; request a fresh one if the date matters.
• Kbis freshness rule. In French practice, a Kbis older than three months is routinely rejected by banks, notaries, and counterparties as evidence of company status. For compliance use, always generate a fresh Kbis at the time of the due diligence event, not from a stored copy.

Alternatives if you cannot access the registry directly

The French-only interface and the document format create friction for foreign compliance buyers, though legal access is unrestricted.

• Local data suppliers (see section below): Coface and Altares D&B both deliver English-language company reports covering the core registry data plus credit scoring and payment history.
• Free Sirene and BODACC: for initial screening, the free Sirene API and BODACC full-text search cover legal existence, basic company details, and insolvency status without cost or language barrier.

Local data suppliers

If you need a packaged report rather than a raw Kbis extract, France has a set of established providers:

• Coface (coface.fr). International credit insurance specialist with strong French market roots, founded in 1946 and listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Provides company financial health assessments, solvency monitoring, and credit risk scoring for French and international counterparties. Coverage spans 200 countries and 100,000 active clients. The French business information product draws on Infogreffe, Sirene, and proprietary payment behavior data.
• Altares D&B (altares.com). Exclusive D&B partner in France and Benelux, providing access to over 11 million French company profiles integrated with the D&B global network of 600 million entities. Products include compliance tools (indueD), beneficial ownership databases, payment performance intelligence, and API-based data blocks. The SIREN-to-D-U-N-S mapping makes Altares the bridge when a global D&B-based counterparty system needs French entity coverage.
• Creditsafe France (creditsafe.com/fr). International credit intelligence platform with localized French coverage. Provides solvency reports, KYC due diligence tools, payment ledger analytics, and multi-jurisdiction API coverage in a single integration. French-language and English-language report delivery. Covers over 430 million companies globally including the full French commercial register.

Use Infogreffe for the authoritative certified Kbis extract. Use a credit bureau when you need payment behavior, credit scoring, or litigation history layered on top of the official filing. Use Altares when you need D&B DUNS-integrated coverage across France and other markets.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access France’s official registry without a French identity?

Yes. Infogreffe, the INSEE Sirene portal, and the RNE are all accessible without account creation and without any French identity document. Kbis extracts require payment by credit card or PayPal, but no French company registration, tax number, or address is required from foreign buyers. The Sirene open data and BODACC are free with no registration at all.

What is the difference between a SIREN and a SIRET number?

The SIREN (Systeme d’Identification du Repertoire des ENtreprises) is a 9-digit number that uniquely identifies a French legal entity. The SIRET (Systeme d’Identification du Repertoire des ETablissements) is 14 digits: the SIREN plus a 5-digit NIC code that identifies a specific establishment of that entity. A company with multiple offices or warehouses has one SIREN but multiple SIRETs. For due diligence on the legal entity, the SIREN is the primary identifier.

What is a Kbis and why is it required in French business practice?

The Extrait Kbis is the official certified extract of a company’s registration in the Registre du Commerce et des Societes (RCS), issued by the Greffe (registrar) of the relevant commercial court. It is the French equivalent of a certificate of incorporation combined with a current company status document. French law and commercial practice require a Kbis to open a bank account, sign a commercial lease, respond to a public tender, or demonstrate legal existence to a counterparty. A Kbis is dated at the moment of generation; a Kbis older than three months is often not accepted in practice.

Where do I find the beneficial owner (UBO) of a French company?

France implemented the EU’s beneficial ownership register under the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The Register des Beneficiaires Effectifs (RBE) is maintained by the Greffe and the information is accessible via Infogreffe and the RNE. As of 2024, French beneficial ownership data is accessible to the public (not just regulated entities) as part of France’s implementation of the EU AMLD transparency requirements. The beneficial owner declaration is a required filing for all French companies.

How current is the French registry data?

The Kbis reflects the state of the commercial court register at the moment of generation. Changes must be filed with the court and typically appear within 1-3 business days. INSEE Sirene is updated daily. BODACC insolvency announcements are published within days of the court order. For compliance purposes, always generate a fresh Kbis rather than relying on one issued more than three months ago.

Is France on the FATF grey list?

No. France is a founding FATF member and a member of GAFI (the French acronym for FATF). France’s 2022 Mutual Evaluation found the AML framework broadly effective. France is not on the grey list as of May 2026. For current status, see fatf-gafi.org.

What is the APE code and why does it matter?

The APE (Activite Principale Exercee) code, drawn from the French NAF (Nomenclature d’Activites Francaises) classification, describes a company’s principal activity. It is assigned by INSEE when the company registers and appears on the Kbis. The APE code determines the applicable collective labor agreement (convention collective), affects VAT treatment in some sectors, and is used in risk scoring models. An APE code that does not match the company’s actual activity can be a due diligence flag worth investigating.

Last verified: May 2026. Sources: Infogreffe (infogreffe.fr), INSEE Sirene (insee.fr), RNE via INPI (data.inpi.fr), BODACC (bodacc.fr), FATF (fatf-gafi.org).