Norway company search: Brønnøysundregistrene (brreg.no)

TL;DR. Norway’s Brønnøysundregistrene portal at https://www.brreg.no is titled Forsiden - Brønnøysundregistrene, with an English home at https://www.brreg.no/en. The organisation search is https://virksomhet.brreg.no/en/oppslag/enheter, titled Information on organisations. The products page describes a certificate of registration available under that search as a digitally signed PDF, a webshop product with some additional information “free of charge”, and a notarised English version for NOK 424. The apex https://data.brreg.no returns nothing, while the API documentation at https://data.brreg.no/enhetsregisteret/api/dokumentasjon/no/index.html loads. Fees for the rest of the product set are unknown rather than free, and no public beneficial ownership search appears on the organisation search; confirm at source.

What is the official Norway business registry?

Norway’s business registration system is operated by Brønnøysundregistrene (the Brønnøysund Register Centre), a government agency under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries. Located in Brønnøysund in northern Norway, the centre administers several interconnected registers that together form the authoritative record of Norwegian legal entities.

The two primary registers for company verification are:

• Foretaksregisteret (Register of Business Enterprises): the main commercial register for companies required to register under the Foretaksregisterloven (Register of Business Enterprises Act, 1985). This covers AS (aksjeselskap, private limited company), ASA (allmennaksjeselskap, public limited company), NUF (norskregistrert utenlandsk foretak, Norwegian-registered foreign branch), and other commercial forms.
• Enhetsregisteret (Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities): a broader register covering all entities with a Norwegian organisasjonsnummer, including sole traders (Enkeltpersonforetak), general partnerships (Ansvarlig selskap, ANS), limited partnerships (Kommandittselskap, KS), cooperatives (Samvirkeforetak, SA), associations, and public entities.

The public access portal is https://www.brreg.no, with an English site at https://www.brreg.no/en. The organisation search is https://virksomhet.brreg.no/en/oppslag/enheter. A second Enhetsregisteret form sits at https://w2.brreg.no/enhet/sok/, titled Nokkelopplysninger fra Enhetsregisteret.

Norway is not an EU member state, but as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), it implements many EU single market requirements including the 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives through the Norwegian Money Laundering Act (Hvitvaskingsloven) as amended.

What can you search?

The English search page invites you to search for registered organisations or to use filters to narrow the results. Dataset notes on that page distinguish Hovedenhet (entities in Enhetsregisteret) from Underenhet (not independent). The full field list behind the search, including board membership, share capital and employee range, is not itemised here; confirm at source.

Certificate of registration (Firmaattest / register transcript), from the products page:

The products page at https://www.brreg.no/en/how-can-we-help-you/information-about-our-products/ states that certificates of registration from the Register of Business Enterprises and register transcripts from the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities show that an organisation is registered and who is responsible for it. A certificate that meets the minimum legal requirements is available under Information on organisations, and the information shown in the service can be downloaded as a digitally signed PDF. The same product with some additional information can be ordered free of charge from the webshop. An English version may be notarised for NOK 424.

No public beneficial ownership (reelle rettighetshavere) search appears on the organisation search; confirm at source.

How much does it cost?

The products page is the source for “free of charge” on the webshop additional-information product and for the NOK 424 notarised English certificate. Fees for the rest of the product set are unknown rather than free, and no payment method is published on the search pages; confirm at source.

Do you need a local account or ID?

The organisation search is public, with no login form on the page. Norwegian residents use MinID, BankID or Buypass for personal government services; none of those is needed to reach the organisation search.

Is the website in English?

Yes. https://www.brreg.no/en and https://virksomhet.brreg.no/en/oppslag/enheter carry English titles and navigation. Company names and most filed documents are in Norwegian. The products page states that English certificates of registration do not normally include the articles-of-association objective.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown in general. The products page says notarised certificates of registration are sent by post, usually within one working day, and that other certificates can be downloaded digitally or sent by e-mail shortly afterwards; confirm at source.

Is there an API?

Yes. The apex https://data.brreg.no returns nothing, although the domain still exists, and the Enhetsregisteret open-data documentation at https://data.brreg.no/enhetsregisteret/api/dokumentasjon/no/index.html loads under the title Enhetsregisterets dokumentasjon for apne data. The organisation search also links data.brreg.no/enhetsregisteret/api/enheter/lastned.

What you legally cannot do

The openness of the Norwegian registry is deliberate, but legal limits apply:

• Personopplysningsloven (Privacy Act, 2018). Norway has implemented GDPR through the Personal Data Act, which has the same substance as GDPR Regulation 2016/679. Natural persons who appear in company records, including directors and sole traders, are data subjects. Processing their personal data for commercial purposes beyond the legitimate compliance need requires documented legal basis.
• Sole trader names are personal data. An Enkeltpersonforetak (sole trader) registered in Enhetsregisteret uses the proprietor’s personal name as the company name.
• Systematic bulk extraction beyond the permitted API and bulk download paths is not consistent with the open data framework. The documentation describes totalbestand downloads; scraping around them is unnecessary.
• Beneficial ownership data. Beneficial ownership data obtained from the Norwegian register is subject to use restrictions under Hvitvaskingsloven. No public beneficial ownership search could be confirmed.
• Certificate redistribution. A certificate of registration carries Brønnøysundregistrene’s digital signature as the issuing authority. Passing it off as independently sourced or stripping the provenance is not permitted.

FATF has reviewed Norway’s AML/CFT framework. It publishes its black and grey lists at fatf-gafi.org, and the increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026 does not name Norway; confirm at source.

Practical tips for foreign users

• Organisasjonsnummer is 9 digits. Norway’s organisasjonsnummer is exactly 9 digits with no hyphen in the standard format, for example 987654321. It is permanent and does not change.
• AS vs. ASA vs. ENK. An AS (aksjeselskap) is the private limited company. An ASA (allmennaksjeselskap) is the public limited company form. An ENK (enkeltpersonforetak) is a sole trader; liability is unlimited. Minimum capital figures are not restated here; confirm at source.
• Norway is EEA, not EU. Norway is not an EU member state but participates in the EEA. Norway has its own AML regime aligned with EU AMLD standards.
• Proff.no is a commercial aggregator, not the official registry. Its costs and account rules are not covered here; confirm at source.
• NUF. A NUF is a Norwegian branch of a foreign company. It has an organisasjonsnummer in Enhetsregisteret but the parent company’s registration is in the foreign jurisdiction.

Alternatives if you cannot access the registry directly

• w2.brreg.no/enhet/sok/: an Enhetsregisteret key-information form, in Norwegian.
• OpenCorporates: Indexes Norwegian company data. Not the official registry.
• Local data suppliers (see section below): Bisnode Norway, Experian Norway, and D&B Norway add credit scoring on top of registry data.

Local data suppliers

• Bisnode Norway (bisnode.no). Part of the D&B Bisnode Nordic network. Provides credit risk scores, company profiles, and monitoring for Norwegian companies.
• Experian Norway (experian.no). Experian’s Norwegian operation provides commercial credit data, identity verification, and fraud prevention services.
• Dun & Bradstreet Norway (dnb.no). D&B’s Norwegian entity provides D-U-N-S numbered company profiles for Norwegian companies.
• Proff.no (proff.no). Commercial aggregator of Brønnøysundregistrene and annual account data. Its costs and account rules are not covered here; confirm at source.

FAQ

Is a Norwegian certificate of registration legally accepted outside Norway?

The products page describes a digitally signed PDF from the Information on organisations service and a notarised English certificate from the webshop at NOK 424. Acceptance outside Norway depends on the receiving institution.

What is Firmaattest?

Firmaattest is the Norwegian name for the certificate of registration from Foretaksregisteret. The English products page uses “Certificate of registration from the Register of Business Enterprises”.

Does Norway have a beneficial ownership register?

No public beneficial ownership search appears on the organisation search. The Hvitvaskingsloven framework covers beneficial ownership reporting; confirm at source.

What does a Norwegian company’s status “slettet” mean?

“Slettet” means struck off or deleted from the register. The company no longer has legal capacity. It is distinct from “under avvikling” (in voluntary liquidation) or “konkurs” (bankrupt).

Is Norway on the FATF grey list?

No. FATF publishes its black and grey lists at fatf-gafi.org, and the increased-monitoring list of 19 June 2026 does not name Norway; confirm at source.

What is a NUF and what special checks does it require?

A NUF (Norskregistrert Utenlandsk Foretak) is a Norwegian-registered branch of a foreign company. It has its own organisasjonsnummer in Enhetsregisteret but is not a separate Norwegian legal entity. For due diligence on a NUF counterparty, verify both the Norwegian Enhetsregisteret record and the parent company’s registration in the home country.

Last verified: 2026-09-04. Sources: brreg.no, brreg.no/en, virksomhet.brreg.no/en/oppslag/enheter and w2.brreg.no/enhet/sok/; the products page (NOK 424 notarised English, webshop product free of charge); the Enhetsregisteret API documentation; the FATF black and grey lists as of 19 June 2026.