The EU Company Certificate

The EU Company Certificate is a harmonised, register-issued certificate — electronic or paper — that every Member State must accept as sufficient evidence, at the time of issuance, of a company's incorporation and of the register information it lists. Companies can get it free of charge at least once a year. It is created by a new Article 16b of Directive (EU) 2017/1132, inserted by Directive (EU) 2025/25.

Who this page is for

Companies that need to prove what they are in another Member State without an apostille and a certified translation; authorities and relying parties deciding what to accept; register operators implementing issuance.

What the law says

Issued by registers, accepted everywhere. Member States must ensure their registers issue EU Company Certificates for the companies listed in Annexes II and IIB of Directive (EU) 2017/1132. The certificate "shall be accepted in all Member States as sufficient evidence, at the time of its issuance, of the incorporation of the company" and of the listed register information [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(1)].

What it contains. For limited liability companies, Article 16b(2) lists the contents: name(s); legal form; registration number and Member State; EUID; registered office; correspondence address; date of registration; subscribed capital (if applicable); status (closed, struck off, wound up, dissolved, in insolvency, active or inactive, where recorded); the persons authorised to represent the company in dealings with third parties and in legal proceedings — with whether they act alone or jointly — including, where the representative is a legal person, its identifying details; the object of the company (where recorded); its duration (where limited); website (where recorded); and the certificate's date of issue [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(2)(a)–(o)]. For partnerships listed in Annex IIB, the same applies minus registered office, capital and the representative-person points [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(3)].

That representation field matters more than it looks: the certificate is a register-grade, cross-border-accepted statement of who may bind the company — which is why this handbook treats it as one half of the organisational-mandate story, alongside the digital EU power of attorney. See Who may act for a company.

How you get it. From the register, electronically or on paper; the electronic version must also be obtainable through the system of interconnection of registers (BRIS) [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(4)].

What it costs. Each company can obtain its own certificate in electronic form free of charge, unless that causes serious prejudice to the financing of national registers — and in any case free at least once per calendar year. Any price charged, electronic or paper, is capped at administrative costs [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(5)]. Third parties, including authorities, can also apply for a company's certificate [Directive (EU) 2025/25, recital 24].

How it is authenticated. The electronic certificate is authenticated by trust services under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 [Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS)] and "shall also be compatible with the European Digital Identity Wallet" [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(6)] [Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 (eIDAS 2)]. The paper version carries the date of issuance, the register's seal or stamp or equivalent, and a unique protocol or identification number allowing electronic verification of its origin and authenticity [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(7)].

No apostille, limited translation demands. The certificate is exempt from all forms of legalisation and any similar formality [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16d(2)], and Member States must endeavour not to demand translations where the needed information is in the certificate [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16g(1)(a)].

When an authority doubts it. The Article 16e safeguard applies: an authority with reasonable doubt about origin or authenticity queries a contact point; the contact point answers within 5 working days; refusal is allowed only if the issuing register does not confirm, with notification to the presenter within 10 working days [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16e(1)–(4)].

The template. A multilingual template, published by the Commission on the e-Justice Portal in all official EU languages; the implementing act — including wallet compatibility, taxonomy and template — is due by 31 July 2026 [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 16b(8) and Art. 24(2)(d)].

What it does not do

• It proves the state of the register at the time of issuance — Article 16b(1) says exactly that. It is not a live feed, and a certificate from March says nothing about a director change in April.
• It does not replace national extracts and certificates; the recitals keep those intact: "The EU Company Certificate should be without prejudice to national extracts and certificates" [Directive (EU) 2025/25, recital 24].
• It does not itself authorise anyone to do anything. It states who the company's representatives are; conferring authority on someone else is the power of attorney's job.

Dates

Same clock as the rest of the Directive: implementing acts by 31 July 2026; transposition by 31 July 2027; application from 31 July 2028 [Directive (EU) 2025/25, Art. 24(2) insertion and Art. 4].